^ington 


DEPARTMENT  OF 


University  of  Illinois. 

Books  are  not  to  be  taken  from  the  Library  Room, 


RiiMOTE  STORASE 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


Hints  to  Amateurs 


31  on  Jlrt. 


BY 

LOUISE  JOPLING 


HARPER  6-  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE. 

1891. 


TO 

Eoeal  I^icJ)nt00 

i&cin«!30  of  (Itllalesf, 

BY  WHOSE 

GRACIOUS  PERMISSION  THIS  LITTLE  BOOK 
IS  RESPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED. 


^ \ to 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

Introduction  .......  ix 

I.  Black  and  White i 

II.  Oil  Painting 22 

III.  Watercolours 31 

IV.  Pastel  — Photography  — Sketching  from 

Nature 40 

V.  Anatomy  . 48 


VI.  Perspective  . 


57 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  with  great  diffidence  that  I,  a labourer  in  the 
field  of  art,  stretch  out  a helping  hand  to  those  fellow- 
workers  who,  for  want  of  a little  timely  encourage- 
ment, are  apt  to  become  disheartened.  They  forget, 
whilst  they  cross  the  Slough  of  Despond,  that  beyond 
that  is  the  firm  ground  where  Progress  has  her  fair 
abode.  I want  to  impress  this  upon  them,  and  my 
only  apology  for  doing  so  is  that  I have  been  assured 
that  my  experience  may  help  others  ; those  others 
who,  from  force  of  circumstances,  cannot  enjoy  the 
advantages  that  are  so  accessible  nowadays  to  the  art 
student ; and  those  also  who,  living  far  away  in  the 
country,  have  no  means  of  obtaining  even  the  feeblest 
art  education. 

My  hints,  such  as  they  are,  are  written  solely  for 
the  benefit  of  amateurs. 

In  using  the  word  ‘ amateur  ’ I intend  it  to  signify 
its  original  meaning,  viz.,  ‘ a lover.'  We  have  cor- 
rupted it  in  these  days,  as  we  English  have  a habit 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  doing  so  many  of  our  words,  for  the  want  of  the 
restraining  influence  of  a recognised  authority,  such 
as  the  ^Academie  des  Belles  Lettres’  in  France. 
When  we  speak  now  of  an  amateur  it  is,  I fear,  in  a 
slight  tone  of  contempt,  for  we  associate  the  word 
with  incompetence,  and  we  are  led  to  do  so  because 
the  work  of  the  amateur  usually  betrays  his  want  of 
knowledge.  Now  it  is  this  knowledge  alone  which 
makes  the  difference  between  the  professional  and 
the  amateur. 

In  every  line  of  life  in  which  success  is  aimed  at, 
an  apprenticeship  has  to  be  served,  of  many  hours 
and  days  of  hard  work.  Art  is  not  exempt  from 
this  law,  and  however  small  may  be  the  talent  one 
possesses  it  can  be  increased  tenfold  by  cultivation. 

A Professional  very  often  has  made  his  start  in 
life  with  a lack  of  money,  and  an  Amateur  has  been 
burdened  with  too  much.  In  that,  it  seems  to  me, 
lies  the  chief  difference  between  them. 

Walter  Savage  Landor  in  his  Conversations  makes 
one  of  his  characters  say,  ‘ that  poverty  and  wit  use 
the  same  grindstone.’  This  is  partly  true,  for  poverty 
very  often  brings  out  talents  that  would  otherwise 
have  lain  dormant,  and  as  wealth  carries  no  spur  ‘ to 
prick  the  idle  intent  of  a man,’  it  often  happens  that 
in  the  race  for  honours  it  is  the  poorer  ones  who 
carry  off  the  prizes.  Nevertheless,  the  kingdom  of 
art  is  open  to  all  comers,  and  you  can  enter  into  it, 
even  though  you  were  as  rich  as  Croesus.  It  is 


INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


only  the  want  of  training  that  marks  the  difference 
between  the  Professional  and  the  Amateur. 

The  Professional  knows  he  can  achieve  nothing 
without  he  thoroughly  studies  and  masters  the  call- 
ing he  has  embraced. 

The  Amateur  is  rather  given  to  imagine  that 
what  he  calls  his  ‘ talent/  or  his  gift,  or  his  genius, 
is  enough  to  carry  him  over  all  difficulties.  Were 
he  to  become  a doctor,  lawyer,  or  scientist,  he  would 
have  to  pursue  the  usual  curriculum  of  study  long 
before  he  was  fitted  to  put  his  knowledge  into  prac- 
tice. It  is  the  same  with  art.  It  requires  as  much 
hard  work  and  learning  as  any  other  profession. 
Even  if  not  continued  in  later  life,  I consider  that 
drawing  and  painting  ought  to  form  a part  of  every 
child's  education,  just  as  much  as  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic.  No  special  gift  is  requisite.  All 
the  better  if  one  possesses  it,  but  it  is  not 
necessary. 

Sometimes  I hear  it  said,  ‘ It  is  of  no  use  my 
learning.  I am  too  old.'  To  these  despairing  ones 
I would  say,  ‘ Bear  in  mind  the  proverb,  ‘‘  It  is  never 
too  late  to  mend," ' In  learning  the  art  of  drawing 
when  you  are  beyond  the  pale  of  childhood,  you 
bring  to  your  task  a judgment  far  more  matured. 
Your  mind  has  more  strength  to  command  the  eye 
and  hand  to  do  their  part,  and  your  will  to  succeed 
is  greater.  You  have  already  learnt  the  value  of 
time,  and  its  brevity,  which  youth  finds  so  difficult 


INTRODUCTION, 


xii 


to  realise.  History  tells  us  of  many  painters  who 
commenced  their  artistic  career  when  they  were  no 
longer  quite  young.  John  Philip,  our  English 
‘ Spanish  painter,’  was  a notable  example  of  this.  I 
have  heard  that  up  to  the  age  of  thirty  he  followed 
the  trade  ot  house  painter.  And  I myself  com- 
menced to  learn  the  rudiments  of  my  profession  at 
the  age  of  three-and-twenty,  heavily  handicapped  as 
I was  at  the  time  by  my  duties  of  wife  and  mother. 
However,  I had  plenty  of  time  for  each  and  all,  but 
of  course  I had  to  work  much  harder  than  a younger 
woman  need  have  done.  Besides  the  hours  spent 
from  ten  to  four  at  my  master’s  (M.  Chaplin’s)  studio, 
I joined  a class  that  commenced  in  the  summer  time 
at  seven  a.m..  and  where  we  drew  from  the  undraped 
figure.  Very  pleasant  it  was  to  start  out  in  the 
early  morning,  when  Paris  was  waking  into  life  and 
activity,  and  finishing  her  daily  toilet  with  the  help 
of  the  picturesque  men  in  blouses,  who  dipped  their 
long  brooms  into  the  streams  of  fresh,  pure  water 
that  ran  along  the  gutters,  and  swept  the  streets  and 
pavements  of  the  impurities  and  stains  with  which 
the  preceding  day  and  night  had  defiled  them.  In 
the  evening  I studied  my  anatomy  at  home.  In 
the  winter-time  the  same  class  worked  by  gaslight 
from  seven  to  ten  p.m.  I would  have  given  much 
if  all  this  had  happened  in  my  girlhood,  particularly 
as  I had  to  leave  off  studying  sooner  than  I had 
originally  intended  in  order  to  support  myself  and 


INTRODUCTION, 


xiii 


my  two  children.  Still,  one  is  always  learning,  and 
one’s  studies  are  only  ended  when  Death  knocks 
at  the  door.  So  you  see,  one  can  commence  late ; 
although  it  is  far  better  to  do  so  early  in  life,  when 
one’s  mind  is  in  a receptive  state,  and  one’s  fingers 
are  in  a plastic  condition. 

Drawing  is  not  at  all  a useless  accomplishment, 
as  I have  so  often  heard  it  described.  It  strengthens 
many  of  our  faculties — notably,  memory  and  obser- 
vation. The  former  is  essential  if  we  wish  to  paint 
well.  We  can  achieve  nothing  without  its  use.  For 
instance,  we  would  find  it  impossible  to  look  at  our 
object,  and  paint  it,  at  one  and  the  same  time.  What 
we  really  do  is  to  look  at  it  first,  and  then,  relying 
upon  our  memory,  we  reproduce  it  as  accurately  as 
it  is  possible  for  us  to  do.  The  more  retentive  our 
memory  the  more  perfect  is  our  drawing.  As  to 
our  powers  of  observation,  learning  to  draw  trains 
them  and  renders  them  keener.  And  this  alone 
ought  to  secure  for  art  a permanent  place  in  every 
scheme  of  education. 

At  present,  it  is  considered  in  most  fashionable 
schools  not  as  a necessity,  but  as  an  ‘extra.’ 

If  we  want  another  plea  in  its  favour,  let  us  only 
reflect  how  much  our  enjoyment  of  life  is  intensified 
by  the  power  of  justly  appreciating  the  beauties  of 
form,  and  the  glories  of  colour,  that  are  contained  in 
this  beautiful  world  of  ours,  and  which  many  of  us, 
though  we  have  eyes,  see  not. 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION, 


Cultivate,  then,  your  love  of  art,  for  you  may  rest 
assured  that  it  is  not  waste  of  time. 

Do  not  exclaim,  as  many  do,  ‘ What  is  the  use  of 
my  trying?  I shall  never  succeed.^  You  never  will 
if  you  listen  to  and  act  upon  the  advice  of  ‘Mr.  Do 
Nothing.'  Read  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  he  will  give 
you  better  counsel.  Listen  to  what  he  says  : ‘ Be 
not  disgusted,  nor  discouraged,  nor  dissatisfied,  if 
thou  dost  not  succeed  in  doing  everything  according 
to  right  principles,  but  when  thou  hast  failed  return 
back  again.'  Herein  lies  the  secret : return  back 
again,  and  back  again,  until  you  do  succeed. 

What  I have  been  most  struck  with  in  amateurs 
is  their  want  of  courage.  I may  be  reminded  of  the 
proverb  that  ‘fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread.' 
I do  not  think  it  applies  in  this  case.  Amateurs  are 
not  necessarily  fools,  and,  I can  assure  you,  we  pro- 
fessionals are  very  far  from  being  angels.  There- 
fore I say  to  you.  Be  not  afraid.  Remember,  that 
very  often,  ‘ Our  doubts  are  traitors,  and  make  us 
lose  the  good  we  oft  might  win,  by  fearing  to 
attempt.' 

What  I would  prefer  to  see  is  a little  of  that 
vaulting  ambition,  which  even  if  it  does  ‘o'erleap 
its  selle^  and  falls  on  ‘ t’other  side,'  is  better  than  the 
possession  of  prudence  that  counsels  to  venture  no- 
thing, and  to  be  content  with  winning  nothing. 

About  your  capacity  or  genius  for  drawing,  I can 
only  say  that  no  one  knows  what  they  are  capable 


INTR  OD  UCTION. 


XV 


of  doing  until  they  try.  A gardener  will  tell  you 
that  by  cultivation  he  can  convert  the  poorest  flowers 
of  the  garden  into  rarely  beautiful  ones. 

But  you  will  say,  perhaps,  that  the  little  seed  of 
genius  must  first  exist,  otherwise  cultivation  is  useless. 
Well,  what  is  genius?  A Celtic  Triad  describes  it, 
or  rather  its  three  primary  requisites,  as  ‘ an  eye  that 
can  see  nature,  a heart  that  can  feel  nature,  and 
boldness  that  dares  to  follow  nature.’  Are  these  so 
very  rare  'i 

And  it  was  Disraeli  who  told  us  that  genius 
consists  in  an  infinite  capacity  for  taking  pains. 
Surely  this  lies  within  the  reach  of  all. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci  judged  a man,  whether  he 
possessed  a talent  for  drawing  or  not,  by  the  amount 
of  his  perseverance ; and  if  I might  adapt  a French 
saying,  ‘ De  Taudace  ; encore  de  Taudace  ; et  toujours 
de  Taudace!’  I should  use  the  word  perseverance  in 
a similar  manner. 


LOUISE  JOPLING. 


October  1890. 


/ 


j 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Black  and  White. 

Many  styles  of  drawing  come  under  this  head,  although, 
correctly  speaking,  the  term  is  only  applied  to  drawings  for 
illustration  where  pen  and  ink,  or  a wash  of  Indian  ink  or 
lampblack  and  Chinese  white,  is  used,  and  applied  with  a 
brush.  We  shall  have  to  deal  first  with  charcoal  drawings. 
No  m.ore  fascinating  medium  can  be  found  with  which  to 
translate  quickly  on  to  paper  the  outline  of  a beautiful 
head,  a time  study,  a happy  disposition  of  lines  in  a land- 
scape, or  an  idea  for  a picture  which  one  is  longing  to  put 
into  a concrete  form. 

The  paper  that  takes  charcoal  the  best  is  called  papier 
Michelet^  and  you  can  buy  it  for  a penny  the  sheet.  In 
Paris  the  same  paper,  I believe,  is  called  papier  Ingres^ 
and  there  it  only  costs  one  halfpenny. 

This  cheap  paper  is  far  better  for  making  charcoal 
studies  on  than  one  that  is  dearer.  The  marks  are  easily 
obliterated  by  a piece  of  bread,  and  as  a paper  it  is  much 
less  greasy  in  texture  than  the  dearer  sorts.  When  you 
can  do  good  drawings  that  require  little  effacing  before 
finishing,  then  you  can  use  better  paper. 

Frenchmen  excel  in  the  use  of  charcoal,  especially  in 

B 


2 


HINTS  TO  A MATE  UTS. 


landscape  studies.  Ordinary  charcoal  is  easy  to  get  at 
four  sticks  a penny.  You  can  get  many  varieties,  from 
sticks  an  inch  thick  in  circumference  to  those  of  a much 
smaller  make.  These  latter  are  made  chiefly  in  Paris, 
and  are  called  ^ Fusain  a tilleuV  .They  are  made  from 
the  tiny  branches  of  the  lime-tree. 

For  black  chalk  you  ask  for  ‘ Conte  a Paris. ^ There 
are  three  sizes.  No.  i being  the  finest.  In  using  chalk  you 
must  have  a crayon -holder,  or  you  can  get  chalk,  if  you 
like,  inserted  into  cedar  pencils,  as  lead  is. 

For  doing  red-chalk  drawings,  it  is  much  better  to  use 
what  the  French  call  ^ sa7tgum.^  It  is  the  stone  in  its  pure 
state,  and  is  of  a much  better  colour  than  the  composition 
usually  sold  under  the  name  of  red  chalk. 

For  doing  stump  drawings  you  get  little  bottles  filled 
with  a powder  called  ‘ Velours  a sauce, ^ or  you  scrape 
your  own  black  chalk  into  a powder,  and  apply  it  to 
your  drawing  with  the  aid  of  little  stumps  of  twisted 
paper  made  expressly,  and  sold  by  the  dozen.  These  can 
be  got  in  several  different  sizes. 

You  will  also  require  a small  piece  of  chamois  leather 
or  a leather  stump.  These  will  take  off  the  charcoal  or 
chalk  in  places  which  you  wish  lightened. 

For  obliterating  entirely,  a piece  of  stale  bread  made 
into  a little  pellet  is  the  best  thing  you  can  use.  It  must 
be  in  the  state  that  is  the  happy  medium  between  fresh 
and  stale ; as  if  used  too  fresh  it  will  make  your  drawing 
greasy,  and  if  too  stale  it  will  crumble  and  be  useless, 
and  only  scratch  your  paper. 

With  bread  you  produce  the  effect  that  is  called  stippling. 
This  is  a fascinating  but  useless  accomplishment.  The 
young  student  is  apt  to  devote  many  hours  and  days  to  a 
process  which  when  done  only  serves  to  make  his  drawing 
look  pretty,  and  he  forgets  the  main  object  for  which  he  is 
striving,  viz.,  to  get  what  he  draws  in  perfect  proportion. 


BLACK  AND  WHITE, 


3 


Drawing  in  pencil  is  excellent  practice,  as  it  teaches 
you  accuracy. 

The  less  rubbing  out  your  drawing  requires  the  better 
it  looks. 

For  line  drawing,  the  pencils  marked  F or  H,  of  either 
single  or  double  letters,  are  the  best. 

For  drawings  in  lead  used  with  the  stump,  get  the 
pencils  marked  B,  BB,  and  BBB. 

These  latter  can  be  modelled  to  a very  finished  state. 
The  old  masters  did  a great  many  of  their'  drawings 
in  what  is  called  silver  point,  and  it  has  lately  become 
fashionable  again  amongst  our  modern  men.  Great 
accuracy  is  necessary,  and  your  drawing  looks  better  if 
all  the  lines  take  the  same  direction  and  do  not  cross 
each  other. 

For  making  rapid  sketches  whilst  travelling,  the  metallic 
note-books,  or  rather  paper  prepared  for  the  use  of  the 
metallic  pencil,  used  with  an  ordinary  lead  one,  is  de- 
lightful to  work  upon.  Your  drawing  does  not  smudge, 
and  your  sketch  remains  clear  and  accurate  for  years. 

For  pen-and-ink  drawing,  tiny  steel  pens  called  croiv- 
quill  are  used. 

Charles  Keene,  the  world-famous  draughtsman  for 
Punchy  tells  me  he  prefers  the  Waverley  pen  to  work 
with,  as  by  it  he  can  get  both  fine  and  strong  strokes 
at  will.  Cardboard  is  the  best  material  to  work  upon. 

For  reproduction,  printers  prefer  a specially-prepared 
highly-glazed  surface. 

The  brush  is  mostly  used  by  ^ black  - and  - white ' 
artists. 

If  you  work  in  black  with  the  brush,  leaving  your  paper 
for  the  white,  you  will  find  Vandyke  brown  and  indigo 
black  make  a very  good  tone.  Get  these  colours  in  waters 
colour  tubes.  You  can  buy  specially-prepared  ink,  but  I 
find  this  not  half  so  easy  to  manipulate,  as  it  stains  the 


4 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


paper.  If  working  with  Chinese  white,  get  it  in  the  tube 
instead  of  in  a bottle. 

Use  a japanned  or  earthenware  palette,  and  work  with 
the  best  water-colour  sable  brushes.  If  you  are  lucky 
enough  to  obtain  those  made  by  the  Japanese,  all  the 
better.  They  are  delightful.  The  point  is  so  beautifully 
prepared,  that  with  it  you  can  get  the  finest  strokes  of  a 
pen  or  the  broadest  that  you  care  to  put  on.  Each  brush 
is  mounted  on  a small  cane  of  bamboo,  whilst  another 
portion  fits  on  over  the  point  and  protects  it,  so  that  you 
can  carry  it  about  with  you  without  fear  of  its  getting 
damaged. 

Be  very  careful  to  do  as  little  as  you  possibly  can  to  a 
drawing,  but  let  that  little  be  correct. 

Too  much  work  when  your  medium  is  only  black  and 
white  is  apt  to  make  your  work  heavy. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  a drawing,  a black 
and  white,  is  only  a suggestion  after  all.  It  is  something  to 
remind  you  of  some  other  thing  which  is  alike  but  different ; 
inasmuch  as  your  subject  contains  very  often  all  the  colours 
of  the  rainbow,  whereas  your  drawing  only  contains  two,  or, 
more  correctly  speaking,  no  colour  at  all. 

Form  and  purity  of  outline  is  what  you  must  strive  for 
in  a drawing.  Go  to  the  National  Gallery  or  British 
Museum,  and  study  the  drawings  by  old  masters.  The 
Queen  has  at  Windsor  the  most  beautiful  ones  by 
Holbein. 

It  is  a lesson  to  an  artist  to  observe  how  much  may 
be  conveyed  by  very  slight  means. 

Each  line  of  the  pencil  is  eloquent,  and  there  is  not 
one  stroke  that  we  could  dispense  with.  Very  good  photo- 
graphs of  these  can  be  seen  and  purchased  at  the  South 
Kensington  Museum. 

I generally  find  that  amateurs  are  afraid  of  leaving 
white  spaces.  Tney  make  their  whole  drawing  look  too* 


BLACK  AND  WHITE. 


5 


black,  so  that  instead  of  a head  suggesting  a white  skin 
we  have  a carefully  modelled  study,  that  had  it  only 
Ethiopian  characteristics  would  pass  very  well  for  a 
negro’s. 

Unless  your  background  is  distinctly  white,  and  per- 
ceptibly more  so  than  the  highest  light  in  your  face,  I 
should  always  advise  you  to  put  your  background  in  the 
tone  that  it  really  is. 

A background,  you  must  remember,  is  as  much  an 
essential  part  of  your  picture  as  your  head. 

This  does  not  apply  to  sketches  or  pure  suggestions, 
but  only  when  you  wish  to  make  your  drawing  very 
elaborate. 

This  elaboration  in  every  detail  is  good  practice  before 
you  start  in  oils  or  water-colour,  and  for  this  purpose  you 
will  find  drawing  with  the  stump  more  useful  to  you.  You 
are  better  able  with  it  to  suggest  colour,  reflected  lights, 
modelling,  &c.  For  drawings  that  are  mere  suggestions, 
and  for  sketching,  I should  recommend  the  point. 

For  drapery  I should  make  use  of  both. 

In  fact,  for  all  stump  drawings  the  point  must  be  used 
to  accentuate  the  form  of  features,  hair,  &c. 

It  is  a wise  thing  to  keep  your  drawings  and  date  them. 

You  will  then  be  able  to  observe  whether  you  are  really 
making  progress  or  not.  If  you  wish  to  set  them,  to 
fix  the  charcoal  on  the  paper  so  that  it  cannot  easily  rub 
off,  dip  them  quickly  and  dexterously  into  a flat  dish  of 
milk.  The  French  use  a jixatif  something  .simpler  than 
the  one  you  require  for  pastel,  and  this  is  sprayed  on  the 
drawing  through  a tube. 

Care  must  be  taken  not  to  do  it  too  near  the  drawing, 
or  it  may  become  a hopeless  smudge.  The  palm  of  the 
hand  or  a piece  of  paper  should  be  experimentalised  on 
first,  and  the  liquid  should  only  be  allowed  to  touch  the 
drawing  when  it  is  at  a sufficient  distance  to  fall  upon  the 


6 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


paper  like  a thin  mist.  In  doing  stump  drawings  you  will 
find  bread  a delightful  tool. 

In  drawing  a head  where  light  curly  hair  strays  into  the 
deep  shadows,  nothing  suggests  it  better  than  bread. 

For  simple  studies  and  sketchy  effects,  grey-toned  paper 
is  very  good. 

You  need  only  put  in  all  the  dark  strokes  with  your  black 
chalk;  your  grey  paper  suggests  the  half  tints,  and  white 
chalk  will  give  you  your  high  lights.  Charcoal  is  unsur- 
passable for  commencing  your  studies,  whether  they  be  in 
chalk,  pencil,  oil,  or  water-colour. 

It  has  the  merit  of  being  easily  effaced  by  bread,  and 
also  that  when  your  outline  is  completed  to  your  satisfac- 
tion you  can  flick  off,  with  a large-sized  rag,  all  the  loose 
charcoal,  without  obliterating  the  lines  that  you  leave  traced 
on  your  paper  or  canvas,  and  which  remain  for  you  as  a 
guide  when  you  commence  to  draw  with  your  chalk,  pencil, 
or  brush. 

For  purposes  of  study,  in  choosing  a model,  if  you  are 
a beginner,  it  is  better  to  select  either  an  old  man  or  old 
woman.  They  sit  quieter,  as  a rule,  for  their  old  blood 
lends  itself  to  repose  sooner  than  the  warm,  excitable  blood 
of  youth. 

There  is  more,  also,  of  what  we  call  ‘ drawing  ’ in  a 
face  where  Age,  the  destroyer,  has  been  at  work  upon  the 
tissues,  and  has  left  more  plainly  visible  the  form  of  the 
muscles  and  the  shape  of  the  bones  of  the  skull. 

If  none  of  your  friends  be  willing  to  sit  to  you — and 
you  will  find  few  friendships  capable  of  standing  this  test — 
should  you  live  near  a village  you  are  certain  of  finding 
many  aged  folk,  who  had  they  lived  in  the  days  of 
Rembrandt  and  Titian  would  have  been  immortalised  on 
canvas. 

I met  a wonderful  old  woman  of  ninety- four  last 
summer  at  the  seaside,  who  was  never  better  pleased 


BLACK  AND  WHITE. 


7 


than  when  an  artist  was  sitting  in  her  neat  liltle  cottage 
and  making  a sketch  of  her.  She  would  tell  you  with 
great  pride  that  her  portrait  had  been  taken  by  some 
gentleman,  and  had  gone  to  ‘ Lunnon  town.’ 

When  you  have  secured  your  model,  put  him  in  a 
good  light  in  which  you  can  have  the  shadows  strongly 
defined. 

Let  the  light  come  from  as  high  up  as  possible,  for  the 
higher  your  light  is  the  better  are  your  shadows  massed. 

To  obtain  this  with  an  ordinary  window,  cover  the 
lower  half  with  a shawl  or  thick  covering  to  exclude  the 
light. 

A low  window  at  the  top  circumscribes  the  space  in 
which  you  can  work,  as  the  light  comes  in  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees,  and  can  only  fall  full  upon  your 
model  within  a certain  space,  part  of  which  space  you 
yourself  are  obliged  to  occupy. 

Unless,  indeed,  you  have  three  windows  in  your  room. 
You  can  then  use  for  yourself  the  nearer  window,  and 
place  your  model  within  the  light  of  the  further  one.  The 
centre  window  must  be  completely  darkened.  Your  room 
must  be  large,  or  you  can  seldom  draw  a full-length  figure, 
as  you  are  bound  to  be  twice  or  three  times  the  length 
of  the  model  away  from  it,  in  order  to  accurately  judge 
of  its  proportions. 

A local  builder  can  with  little  trouble  or  expense  extend 
your  window  into  the  roof  if  your  room  be  on  the  top  floor. 
In  building  a real  studio,  you  must  remember  that  the 
higher  your  light  is  the  further  away  from  the  window 
you  can  place  your  model. 

However,  to  return  to  the  wants  of  the  real  amateur, 
who  must  perforce  perhaps  be  contented  with  an  ordinary 
window  light. 

This,  if  possible,  ought  to  face  the  north,  as  no  sun 
must  enter  your  room,  at  any  rate  during  working  hours. 


8 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


A north-east  or  east  is  the  next  best  light,  as  the  sun  soon 
rises  above  the  level  that  would  disturb  you  in  your  room. 
If,  as  often  happens  in  country  houses,  all  the  windows  face 
south,  then  you  must  make  a thin  paste  of  flour  and  water 
mixed  with  a little  size,  and  apply  it  with  a brush  to  your 
window.  This  will  exclude  the  sun  without  affecting  the 
light. 

Common  Epsom  salts  dissolved  in  a little  water  and 
put  on  in  a liquid  state,  when  dry  gives  the  appearance  of 
frosted  glass,  and  looks  better,  perhaps,  than  the  paste. 

Paintings  done  in  a south  light  doctored  in  this 
manner,  have  a warmer  and  more  luminous  effect  than 
those  done  in  the  light  of  the  cold  north. 

When  studying,  always  do  things  exactly  life  size.  It 
gives  an  air  of  meanness  and  weakness  if  done  slightly 
under  the  size  of  life. 

Should  you  wish  to  do  a small  drawing,  do  it  frankly 
half  the  size  of  life,  and  in  this  case  the  head  and  face 
ought  to  measure  about  four  inches. 

Try  to  look  upon  your  head  whilst  you  are  drawing  it 
as  a square  or  block  of  marble,  and  at  each  curve  that 
composes  it  as  made  of  several  short,  straight  lines.  When 
you  have  completed  your  drawing  in  this  fashion,  it  is  easy 
to  find  your  curves  within  the  angles  of  your  straight  lines. 
In  this  fashion  you  will  have  grander  and  bolder  curves,  and 
will  get  into  your  drawing  what  the  French  call  ‘ style.’ 
My  master  used  to  continually  impress  upon  me  to 
‘ dessiner  carrhnent,^ 

You  may  tell  me  that  ‘the  line  of  beauty  is  a curve 
and  so  it  is.  But  to  be  really  beautiful,  your  curve  must 
have  strength  in  it.  The  least  suspicion  of  weakness 
detracts  from  its  true  beauty. 

By  drawing  a square  first,  you  can  the  more  easily  get 
a perfect  circle,  should  you  wish  to  get  one  without  the  aid 
of  a compass. 


BLACK  AND  WHITE. 


9 


There  is  a story  told  of  Giotto  and  Pope  Boni- 
face VI IL,  who  hearing  of  his  marvellous  skill  as  a 
painter,  sent  a messenger  to  him  to  desire  his  presence 
at  Rome.  On  interviewing  Giotto,  the  man  wished  for 
some  proof  of  his  skill  in  order  to  be  quite  certain  that 
Giotto  was  indeed  he  of  whom  he  came  in  search. 

The  artist  took  up  his  pencil,  and  with  one  movement 
of  his  hand  described  on  a sheet  of  paper  a circle  so  perfect 
that  the  cautious  man’s  doubts  as  to  his  identity  were 
immediately  set  at  rest 

The  Italians  crystallised  this  story  into  a proverb,  and 
to  this  day  when  they  wish  to  describe  the  perfect  rotundity 
of  an  object,  they  exclaim,  ‘E  piu  tondo  che  VO  di  Giottod 

I am  sure  he  must  have  looked  at  his  circles  first  as 
squares. 

When  you  have  thoroughly  studied  the  outline  of  your 
head,  look  at  the  form  of  your  shadows.  Each  shadow 
you  will  find  has  a distinct  shape  of  its  own.  Those 
formed  by  the  hollow  of  the  orbit  of  the  eyes ; that  under 
the  nose;  and  those  about  the  mouth  and  chin. 

If  your  head  is  hajf  in  light  and  half  in  shade,  the 
shadow  on  one  side  of  it  will  have  quite  a distinct  and 
important  form,  according  to  the  shape  of  the  features 
which  project. 

Get  thoroughly  acquainted  firstly  with  the  form  of  the 
head  in  every  position^  and  then  study  the  masses  of  the 
shadows. 

The  outline  and  the  shadows  are  the  principal  points 
in  the  head.  When  you  want  to  go  further  and  study  the 
features,  get  those  casts  of  Michael  Angelo’s  ‘ David  ’ that 
are  to  be  bought  separately  in  divisions  of  eyes,  nose,  and 
mouth,  and  draw  them  over  and  over  again,  until  you  feel 
that  you  have  learnt  them  by  heart. 

Do  not  forget  to  alter  their  position,  so  that  the  light 
falls  upon  them  in  a difierent  manner  each  time. 


lO 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


This  will  give  you  an  endless  variety,  so  that  you  will 
not  feel  tired  of  your  work.  For  this  is  a thing  studiously 
to  be  avoided.  Enthusiasm  is  life  to  the  artist’s  work,  and 
must  be  kept  up  at  any  cost.  If  you  are  feeling  at  all 
weary  put  down  your  pencil,  leave  your  drawing,  and  go  to 
the  piano,  and  play  through  your  last  new  morceaux^  or 
sing  the  latest  song. 

It  is  astonishing  with  what  freshness  you  will  return  to 
your  work,  and  how  your  difficulties  will  have  taken  to 
themselves  wings  during  your  absence. 

After  you  have  massed  in  your  shadows,  and  made 
your  head  look  as  if  it  could  see  and  speak,  without  the 
aid  of  any  line  to  express  the  details  of  the  features,  pro- 
ceed to  the  features  themselves. 

Be  very  careful  not  to  put  in  any  line  that  you  do  not 
see,  and  do  not  let  any  one  line  interfere  with  the  value 
of  your  masses.  You  will  soon  find  out  how  little  is  needed 
sometimes  to  express  a feature. 

The  same  with  the  hair.  Do  not  put  in  every  line. 
Study  first  the  great  masses  of  the  lights  and  shades,  and 
add  only  what  lines  are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  hair. 

You  must  not  omit  in  putting  in  your  shadows  to  study 
their  different  values. 

I mean  by  that  to  notice  where  they  are  darker  in  parts, 
where  they  are  of  a middle  tone,  and  where  they  are  lighter. 

I find  students  are  so  fond  of  putting  in  the  extreme 
darks  in  the  shadow  sides,  such  as  the  nostrils,  and  within 
the  ear,  as  clearly  as  if  they  were  on  the  side  that  is  fully 
illuminated  with  light. 

Now  this  is  an  impossible  thing,  for  shadow  would  not 
be  what  it  is,  unless  it  obliterated  the  details  that  we  see 
so  clearly  in  full  light. 

I remember  being  struck  with  this  in  my  student  days, 
when  one  of  my  fellow-workers  carefully  put  in  a man’s  eye 


BLACK  AND  WHITE, 


II 


on  the  shadow  side  of  his  face,  when  it  was  quite  impossible 
to  distinguish  it.  When  the  master  came  to  correct  her 
work  he  obliterated  her  beautiful  eye  with  a touch  of  his 
thumb,  saying,  ‘ Never  paint  what  you  do  not  see.’ 

In  the  same  way  with  your  background;  put  it  in  the 
exact  tone  that  it  is.  You  will  see  that  according  to  the 
way  the  object  that  you  are  painting  is  lighted,  your  back- 
ground will  appear  in  parts  of  a darker  or  lighter  hue. 

It  is  never  of  one  tone. 

This  is  why  I do  not  care  to  see  studies  done  without 
any  background  at  all.  They  are  not  true. 

You  will  find  that  on  the  lightest  side  of  the  head  the 
student  has  to  insert  an  outline  which  does  not  exist. 
The  background  itself  is  often  in  parts  the  only  outline, 
and  it  is  in  this  way  alone,  by  observing  the  variety  of 
tone  in  even  the  simplest  background,  that  we  get  that 
pleasant  diversity  of  dark  and  light  which  we  get  in  nature, 
and  which  will  prevent  our  drawing  looking  as  if  it  were  cut 
out  all  round  by  a pair  of  scissors,  and  laid  on  a sheet  of 
paper. 

There  is  a story  told  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  that  one 
of  the  many  unsuccessful  artists  who  called  upon  him 
offered  to  sell  him  his  talent  to  incorporate  with  his  own  : 
‘ He  could  do  his  backgrounds  for  him,  for  instance.’ 

‘ No,  no,’  said  Sir  Joshua,  H wouldn’t  mind  letting  5’ou 
paint  my  portraits,  but  I will  do  my  own  backgrounds, 
thank  you  !’ 

I tell  you  this  story  only  to  illustrate  the  fact  of  how 
important  a background  is. 

If  it  cannot  make  a picture  good  it  can  certainly  mar 
one.  Above  all  things  let  your  background  be  modest. 

It  should  know  how  to  efface  itself. 

Like  the  garlic  in  a salad,  it  ought  to  be  there,  but 
you  mustn’t  perceive  it. 

In  painting  a portrait  you  must  always  remember  that 


12 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


when  we  look  at  our  living  model  we  have  a sense  of  his 
surroundings,  but  no  actual  perception.  You  must  so 
paint  the  background  that  it  must  in  no  way  interfere 
with  what  we  wish  to  be  the  chief  interest  of  the  picture, 
such  as  the  head  is  in  a portrait. 

Whilst  you  are  painting  it,  let  your  model  be  before 
you,  so  that  by  constant  comparison  you  run  no  danger  of 
making  your  lesser  value  equal  to  your  greater.  For  as 
you  paint  the  background  you  look  at  it  more  intently,  and 
perceive  it  more  accurately,  in  consequence,  than  you  do 
your  head,  which  becomes  of  lesser  value  than  you  mean  it 
to  be  in  your  picture. 

Whatever  object  you  put  in  your  background,  you  must 
be  careful  to  paint  it  as  if  there  were  air  between  the  actual 
surface  of  the  canvas  and  the  thing  painted.  If  you  have 
painted  a figure,  the  spectator  ought  to  be  made  to  feel,  if  he 
got  into  the  picture,  as  Alice  did  through  the  looking-glass, 
that  he  could  walk  between  the  figure  and  the  background. 

Unless,  of  course,  the  figure  is  painted  leaning  against 
a wall  or  door,  and  then  the  contrary  feeling  has  to  be 
excited. 

And  this  is  as  difficult  to  do  in  its  way  as  the  other. 

I want  you  to  remember  that  when  you  are  learning  to 
draw,  you  must  see,  not  only  with  your  outward  eye,  but 
with  that  of  your  inner  one — ‘ the  mind’s  eye.’ 

You  must  thoroughly  understand  what  you  see,  before 
you  set  the  hand,  which  is  the  mind’s  interpreter,  to  do  its 
work. 

I have  actually  seen  workers  putting  futile,  meaningless 
strokes  upon  their  paper,  ‘just  to  fill  it  in,’  they  say,  what- 
ever that  may  mean. 

And  then  they  wonder  why  the  copy  is  not  like  the 
original.  They  might  as  well  expect  to  draw  were  they 
blind,  as  to  learn  with  the  eyes  of  their  mind  wilfully  shut. 

The  French  painter,  Couture,  used  to  say,  ‘ Look  five 


BLACK  AND  WHITE, 


13 


minutes  at  your  model,  and  one  at  your  drawing.’ 
This  is  a golden  rule  to  remember.  Get  what  you  are 
looking  at  well  by  heart  before  you  attempt  to  put  it 
down.  And  never  put  a stroke  on  your  paper  without 
you  thoroughly  understand  its  meaning,  and  know  why 
you  have  put  it  there. 

Nevertheless,  occasionally  get  into  the  habit  of  giving  an 
instantaneous  look,  just  raising  your  lids  and  down  again. 
Whatever  has  struck  jou  most  In '-that  cursory  glance, 
you  may  be  sure,  iS/the  right  thing  to  insist  upon  in  your 
drawing.  You  see,  you  would  have  had  time  only  to  see 
the  most  important  thing  in  the  head  or  landscape  that  you 
are  doing. 

To  cultivate  this,  it  is  a good  plan  to  sit  before  some 
object,  whatever  you  wish  to  represent^  be"  it  a flower,  vase, 
piece  of  sculpture,  &c.,  study  it  well,  note  every  detail 
mentally,  and  then,  covering  it  over,  proceed  to  make  a 
faithful  copy  of  it,  with  no  other  aid  than  your  memory. 
You  will  be  astonished  to  find  how  easily  you  will  be  able 
to  do  this  after  a few  trials  and  failures.  Another  excellent 
method  of  cultivating  quickness  of  eye  is  to  look  out  of 
your  window  and  observe  objects  passing  by.  Directly 
they  are  out  of  sight,  draw  what  you  remember  of  them, 
and  nothing  more.  It  may  be  only  the  line  of  a back,  the 
outline  of  an  arm,  or  the  carriage  of  a head. 

Done  in  this  manner,  these  incomplete  details  will  all 
have  the  impress  of  truth  stamped  upon  them,  and  in  a 
very  short  time  you  will  find  you  will  be  able  to  observe 
and  reproduce  whole  figures.  This  will  help  you  very 
much  in  composing  pictures,  but  beware,  whatever  you  do, 
of  inventing  lines  for  yourself. 

In  these  lessons  of  observation,  truth  only  must  be  your 
guide. 

Caricaturists,  by  the  very  nature  of  their  work,  depend 
entirely  upon  the  faithfulness  of  their  observation  and 


14 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


memory.  Were  they  seen  to  carry  about  a sketch-book,  | 
men  would  flee  from  them,  and  they  would  then  have  no 
subjects  to  caricature.  j 

My  lamented  friend,  Carlo  Pellegrini,  who  used  to  draw 
the  caricatures  of  celebrities  for  Vanity  Fah^  under  the 
pseudonym  of  ^ Ape,’  used  to  study  his  victims  whilst 
they  themselves  were  quite  unconscious  that  their  little 
peculiarities  were  all  being  mentally  photographed  on  to 
the  keen  brain  of  ‘ Ape.’ 

If  the  celebrity  to  be  taken  off  were  a member  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  Pellegrini  would  go  to  the  Strangers’ 
Gallery  and  note  every  gesture,  expression,  and  attitude  of 
his  man.  Occasionally,  in  puzzling  cases,  he  would  make 
a memorandum  on  his  thumb  nail  or  his  shirt  cuff. 

I wonder,  by-the-by,  if  his  washerwoman  knew  the  value 
of  the  strokes  that  she  obliterated  in  her  wash-tub. 

When  Pellegrini  had  his  portrait  strongly  visualised,  he 
committed  it  straight  on  to  the  paper,  with  direct  touches, 
which  never  required  any  alteration. 

In  my  school  of  art  I give  my  pupils  a time  study  once 
a-week. 

I find  it  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  a student. 

By  a ‘time  study’  I mean  a subject  done  in  a given 
time. 

A charcoal  life-sized  head  is  drawn  from  the  model  in 
the  space  of  one  hour,  or  a rapid  painting  is  blocked  in. 

This  is  sufficiently  long,  as  it  is  necessary  to  keep  up 
their  excitement  and  enthusiasm,  and  a longer  time  would 
only  exhaust  them. 

By  this  quick  time-work  the  salient  points  of  their  model 
are  seized  and  noted.  All  details  disappear,  and  the  chief 
characteristics  of  outline  and  proportion  are  perforce  accen- 
tuated in  order  to  ensure  a resemblance.  This  accustoms 
them,  when  painting  a portrait,  to  look  for  the  most  im- 
portant points. 


BLACK  AND  WHITE. 


15 


The  same  system  is  carried  out  in  making  a sketch  from 
the  old  masters.  A small  canvas  about  8 x 10  is  used,  and 
as  much,  and  as  accurately  as  possible,  is  represented  in 
one  sitting  of  any  work  which  the  student  especially  wishes 
to  study.  Never  mind  how  large  the  picture  is,  it  can  all 
be  contained  in  miniature  on  your  small  canvas.  The 
sitting  can  extend  from  one  hour  to  the  whole  of  the  day 
that  the  gallery  is  open  to  students.  On  no  account  must 
the  sketch  be  touched  a second  day. 

This  practice  does  as  much  good  as  mere  slavish 
copying  does  harm.  It  forces  the  student  to  decide 
quickly  upon  the  lines  which  form  the  composition  and 
upon  the  scale  of  colouring.  The  beauty  of  the  work  as 
a whole  impresses  one,  because  one  has  no  time  to  get 
lost  over  one  little  unimportant  bit  of  detail.  The  student 
has  all  the  time  he  is  working  to  be  constantly  occupied 
with  the  whole,  comparing  one  portion  with  another  until 
he  gets  his  small  replica  to  give  an  impression  of  all 
the  qualities  of  line  and  colour  that  his  great  original 
possesses. 

This  is  done  once  a-month  by  the  students  in  the 
School  of  Art,  and  more  often  would  be  still  more  bene- 
ficial, as  anything  that  induces  the  students  to  visit  the 
National  Gallery  is  good  for  them. 

The  mere  society  of  the  grand  men  inspires  them  and 
educates  their  intelligence  unconsciously. 

These  time  studies  teach  us  to  look  for  and  produce 
the  ‘general  effect’  of  our  subject,  and  according  to 
Reynolds,  ‘ wherever  this  is  observed,  whatever  else  may 
be  neglected,  we  acknowledge  the  hand  of  a Master.’ 

Now  I want  to  show  you  how  to  correct  yourself  if 
circumstances  prevent  you  going  to  a school  of  art  or 
obtaining  a master. 

Here  I shall  be  reminded,  perhaps,  that  he  who  teaches 
himself  has  a fool  for  a master. 


i6 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


This,  like  many  proverbs,  is  a sophism. 

We  are  all  of  us  capable  of  teaching  ourselves  if  we 
have  anything  in  us. 

Get  a master  to  help  you  if  you  can,  but  if  it  be  impos- 
sible to  do  so,  go  on  learning  and  you  will  find  you  must 
improve. 

The  master  can  only  act  as  a sort  of  moral  whip,  to 
urge  you  on  when  you  are  lagging  by  the  way. 

Make  up  your  mind  to  do  without  this,  and  be  as 
severe  with  yourself  as  the  strictest  master  would  be. 

You  see  I quite  expect  you  to  make  mistakes,  but  even 
these  will  teach  you,  and  you  can  make  them  stepping- 
stones  to  your  ultimate  success.  Whenever  you -make  a 
fault,  and  know  it,  you  must  rub  it  out  instantly. 

The  eye  must  not  be  allowed  to  accustom  itself  to  an 
ill-drawn  line  or  a false  bit  of  colour. 

If  it  be  allowed  to  do  so,  you  lose  your  inner  percep- 
tion of  truth. 

That  is  why  what  we  call  a fresh  eye  is  of  such  value. 

Some  one,  no  matter  who,  coming  suddenly  upon  a 
drawing,  sees  with  an  eye  whose  rectitude  has  been  un- 
tampered with,  and  he  is  able  to  detect  at  once  the  wrong 
line  or  the  inharmonious  tint.  He  could  not  tell  you, 
perhaps,  how  to  alter  them,  that  is  for  you  to  find  out. 

It  is  of  no  consequence  whether  your  critic  be  of 
cultivated  taste  or  not. 

If  your  drawing  be  really  right  it  will  look  so,  and  you 
can  defy  criticism;  but  if  it  appear  wrong  to  some  other 
than  yourself,  be  very  sure  that  it  is  in  reality  so. 

I am  now  talking  of  your  superficial  faults,  to  which, 
however  patent  they  are  to  others,  you  yourself  may  be 
totally  blind. 

For  your  more  subtle  faults,  and  which,  perhaps,  you 
are  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  see,  ask  the  advice  of  some 
one  you  know  and  have  confidence  in,  and  follow  it. 


BLACK  AND  WHITE, 


17 


Respect  a friend  if  he  possess  the  faculty  of  perceiving 
your  errors,  but  beware  how  you  listen  to  the  ignorant 
flattery  of  an  incompetent  person.  There  is  no  greater 
obstacle  to  success  than  this. 

Be  satisfied  only  with  the  praise  of  a master  of  his  art. 

It  requires  a higher  intelligence  to  discover  merits  than 
it  does  to  perceive  faults. 

You  yourself  can  cultivate  the  fresh  eye  of  your  some- 
u times  unpleasantly  candid  friend,  by  leaving  your  drawing 
and  turning  your  attention  to  something  totally  different 
for  a space  of  five  or  six  minutes.  When  you  return  to  it, 
stand  at  a great  distance,  and  looking  at  it  as  if  it  were 
some  one  else’s  search  for  the  faults  and  correct  them. 

If  you  criticise  yourself  severely  once  every  hour  in  this 
manner,  you  will  find  that  you  have  an  excellent  master. 

When  you  are  resting,  never  keep  your  drawing  in  front 
of  you  and  gaze  at  it  in  an  absent-minded  manner.  You 
are  not  resting  then;  you  are  only  accustoming  your  eye 
to  imperfection.  If  you  are  tired,  change  your  occupation 
for  a few  minutes.  It  will  be  a far  greater  refreshment  to 
the  mind  than  idleness. 

The  best  self-corrector  you  can  have  is  the  use  of  the 
looking-glass.  Take  a hand  mirror,  not  to  look  at  your- 
self but  at  your  drawing,  and  study  its  reflection.  You 
will  instantly  see  where  you  are  wrong,  whether  you  have 
drawn  one  eye  higher  than  the  other,  or  if  the  mouth  be 
placed  exactly  where  it  ought  to  be  in  relation  to  the 
eyes,  &c. 

The  object  being  reversed  in  the  glass,  you  see  it  as  it 
were  in  a fresh  light. 

I know  many  great  painters  who  habitually  paint  with 
a large  looking-glass  placed  directly  behind  them,  which 
reflects  both  their  model  and  their  canvas. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci  calls  the  mirror  the  painter^s  best 
friend  and  counsellor. 

c 


i8 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


Another  way  is  to  hold  your  drawing  upside  down. 

You  can  thus  more  easily  detect  inaccuracies  of  drawing. 

When  you  want  to  erase  your  mistakes  always  use  bread 
a day  old,  in  the  way  I have  already  indicated  for  char- 
coal work.  It  cleans  instead  of  soiling  your  paper,  as 
indiarubber  so  often  does.  You  must  take  care  that  your 
bread  be  not  too  fresh,  or  it  will  leave  a greasy  mark,  which 
you  will  find  very  difficult  to  work  over. 

An  excellent  thing,  and  one  to  be  constantly  practised, 
is  to  redraw  from  memory,  on  any  stray  sheet  of  paper, 
the  subject  that  you  were  engaged  on  a few  hours 
previously. 

Then  compare  your  memory  sketch  with  your  drawing. 

This  is  the  best  way  of  testing  if  you  have  thoroughly 
understood  what  you  were  working  at,  and  whether  your 
mind  has  been  as  occupied  with  it  as  your  fingers  have 
been. 

A bad  habit  we  are  apt  to  fall  into  is  our  imitation  of 
ourselves. 

Whatever  are  the  defects  or  the  graces  of  our  person, 
we  are  constantly  reproducing  them  in  our  drawing. 

This,  as  you  can  well  imagine,  tends  to  monotony  in 
composition.  Try  to  cure  yourself  of  it  by  honestly  seeking 
to  portray  the  individuality  of  the  model  who  is  sitting  to 
you. 

I give  my  pupils  once  a -week  a lesson  in  eye- 
judgment. 

A subject  is  placed  upon  the  model  table.  It  may  be 
the  living  model,  a plaster  cast,  or  any  object  one  happens 
to  choose.  The  pupils  look  at  it,  study  it  mentally,  and 
learn  it  by  heart.  This  generally  takes  from  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  to  twenty  minutes — even  ten  minutes 
would  do — as  it  is  not  advisable  to  strain  the  attention  too 
long,  or  the  power  of  concentration  may  be  weakened. 
The  subject  is  then  covered  over,  and  the  pupils  instantly 


BLACK  AND  WHITE. 


19 


commence  their  reproduction  from  memory  of  what  they 
have  just  seen. 

This  is  capital  training  for  the  mind. 

Measurement,  I suppose,  ought  not  to  be  suggested  to 
the  art  student. 

In  fact,  it  is  scarcely  practicable,  so  much  perspective 
is  there  in  a head. 

Still,  I have  promised  you  some  hints,  so  if  you  find  it 
very  difficult  to  hit  off  by  the  eye  an  exact  life-size  of  a 
head,  you  may  take  a sheet  of  note  paper  and  hold  it  close 
up  to  your  modehs  face,  making  a mark  with  your  thumb 
or  pencil  at  each  place  where  the  corner  of  the  eye  and 
that  of  the  mouth  touch  the  paper. 

You  can  then  mark  these  measurements  off  on  your 
paper,  and  from  these  two  points  you  ought  to  put  in  the 
rest  of  the  features  in  their  exact  position. 

A very  celebrated  painter  taught  me  this  method. 

To  get  at  correct  proportions  that  cannot  be  managed 
in  this  way,  hold  your  pencil  out  perpendicularly  at  arm’s 
length,  and  mark  where  the  top  of  your  pencil  is  level  with 
a given  point,  say,  the  forehead.  Then  place  your  thumb 
on  a line  with  any  other  point,  the  mouth,  perhaps,  or  the 
chin,  and,  holding  your  thumb  securely  on  the  spot,  turn 
your  pencil  round  in  a horizontal  position,  and  see  where 
this  length  comes  to  across  the  centre  of  your  face.  Then 
turn  to  your  drawing  and  test  its  proportions  in  a similar 
manner.  You  see  in  this  way  you  get  the  width  of  your 
face  to  correspond  with  its  length.  Anything  you  draw  can 
be  continually  tested  by  these  means. 

As  a rule,  the  length  of  a face  is  the  same  as  the  hand. 
In  drawing  a full-length  figure,  if  you  cannot  succeed  in 
making  it  stand  well  it  is  good  to  use  a plumb-line, 
a line  weighted  at  the  bottom  with  lead.  Hold  it  at  arm’s 
length  in  front  of  your  model  at  a good  distance,  the 
further  off  the  better.  Note  which  parts  of  the  figure  cross 


20 


HINTS  TO  A MATE  [ITS, 


or  touch  the  line  of  your  string.  Then  put  it  to  your  draw- 
ing, and  if  you  find  any  difference  between  that  and  your 
model  you  may  be  sure  that  your  drawing  is  incorrect. 

People  who  assert  that  they  know  nothing  about  paint- 
ing, are  continually  making  the  remark  that  they  think  it  so 
wonderful  that  a round  object  can  be  represented  on  a flat 
surface. 

If  they  had  studied  the  principle  of  shadows,  they 
would  understand  that  in  reproducing  a rounded  object, 
and  painting  the  shadows  on  it,  it  would  be  quite  impos- 
sible to  make  it  look  otherwise  than  round. 

Rays  of  light  travel  only  in  straight  lines.  Starting 
from  one  centre,  they  spread  out  in  all  directions. 

For  instance,  let  us  imagine  that  we  are  painting  a 
ball. 

The  surface  of  the  ball  nearest  the  light  will  receive 
and  reflect  the  greatest  amount  of  it.  The  rest  of  the 
ball  gradually  recedes  from  the  light,  and  receives,  there- 
fore, less  and  less  of  it,  as  the  rays  strike  the  surface 
obliquely. 

Then  comes  a portion  of  the  ball  which  receives  no 
light  whatever,  as  the  ray  of  light  passes  by  it.  Here 
there  is  the  deepest  shadow.  Between  that  and  the 
extreme  boundary  line  we  get  a reflected  light,  />.,  light 
refracted  or  thrown  back  from  surfaces  adjacent,  which 
the  rays  of  light  have  touched  and  illuminated  in  their 
forward  progress. 

In  painting  a head,  we  must  never  forget  that  it  is  a 
round  surface,  and  we  must  look  for  our  deepest  shadows 
and  our  reflected  lights  as  if  it  were  a ball. 

If  we  always  remembered  this,  our  heads  would  never 
have  the  appearance  that  they  sometimes  do  of  having  no 
backs  to  them.  In  painting  a nose  full  face,  the  shadow 
and  reflected  light  must  be  well  studied. 

The  word  ‘Tone’  is  often  made  use  of,  and  in  the 


BLACK  AND  WHITE. 


21 


artistic  jargon  of  the  day  it  holds  a conspicuous  position. 
Now  the  amateur  will  say,  ‘What  is  tone?’  We  seem  to 
have  taken  it  in  the  first  instance  from  the  sister-art  Music, 
as  in  the  same  way  we  have  borrowed,  or  rather  Mr. 
Whistler  has  done  so  for  us,  the  words  ‘ harmony,’ 
‘ nocturne,’  and  such-like  phrases. 

Now,  tone  in  painting  is  described  by  a lexicographer 
‘ as  the  harmonious  relation  of  the  colours  of  a picture  in 
light  and  shade.  The  term  is  often  used  to  qualify,  or  as 
synonymous  with,  depths  richness.^  and  splendour.  It  has 
also  been  more  recently  used  to  denote  the  characteristic 
expressions  of  a picture  as  distinguished  by  its  colour.  In 
painting,  to  tone  down  a picture  is  to  soften  its  colouring 
so  that  a subdued  harmony  of  tint  may  prevail,  and  all 
undue  glare  be  avoided.’ 

This  is  his  explanation  of  the  term. 

I think,  for  my  own  part,  the  word  ‘ tone  ’ is  used  by 
the  critics  principally  in  relation  to  harmony  in  colouring. 

When  all  the  colours  in  a picture  are  of  relative  value, 
and  none  are  too  crude  nor  too  quarrelsome  with  those  in 
juxtaposition  with  them,  then  we  say  the  picture  is  of  a 
good  tone. 

The  use  of  grey  generally  ensures  this,  provided  that  it 
be  not  of  a cold  quality. 


CHAPTER  11. 

Oil  Painting. 

Painting  is  simply  drawing  in  colour. 

I cannot  sufficiently  impress  it  upon  you,  that  unless 
you  draw  well  you  cannot  expect  to  paint  well.  How- 
ever true  and  beautiful  your  sense  of  colour  may  be 
per  se,  it  will  look  weak  and  without  vigour  unless  you 
furnish  it  with  a good  backbone  of  sound  drawing. 

In  painting  the  head,  draw  it  first  carefully  on  your 
canvas  in  charcoal. 

When  the  outline  is  as  correct  as  you  can  get  it,  flick 
the  loose  charcoal  off,  and  go  over  the  lines  with  a pencil 
or  red  chalk.  The  latter  is  preferable,  as  the  colour  better 
assimilates  with  the  flesh  tones. 

Be  very  certain  of  your  drawing  before  you  commence 
to  paint,  and  you  will  save  yourself  afterwards  a great  deal 
of  unnecessary  trouble.  It  is  not  easy  to  make  corrections 
in  oil  paint,  unless  one  is  thoroughly  master  of  the  material. 
The  colour  is  apt  to  become  dirty,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
restore  it  to  its  pristine  purity.  Endeavour  to  get  at  once 
the  right  tone  of  colour,  and  put  it  on  your  canvas  in 
exactly  the  right  place. 

The  larger  your  palette  is  the  better.  You  will  then 
have  plenty  of  room  on  it  for  mixing  your  colours. 

In  M.  Chaplin's  atelier^  where  I was  taught,  we  were 
given  what  was  called  ‘ The  Rubens  Palette,'  the 


OIL  FAINTING. 


23 


colours  we  had  to  use  were  similar  to  those  Rubens 
painted  with,  and  they  were  arranged  on  it  in  the  same 
order.  There  is  a palette  of  the  great  master  in  some 
museum  abroad,  preserved  just  as  he  left  it  after  a day’s 
work. 

The  look  of  a palette  after  it  has  been  worked  upon,  is 
always  a source  of  interest  to  an  artist. 

From  it  a man’s  style  of  work  can  so  often  be  guessed 
at,  and  every  artist’s  palette  has  quite  as  much  individuality 
in  it  as  has  his  handwriting. 

I must  say,  however,  that  the  mere  using  of  a palette 
like  Rubens’  had  no  magical  effect  upon  our  colouring.  ' 

We  had  all  to  learn  from  the  great  teacher.  Experience, 
who,  as  Carlyle  says,  ‘demandeth  high  wages,  and  is  a 
hard  taskmistress,  but  she  teacheth  like  none  other.’ 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  to  matter  much  how  you  do  a 
thing,  provided  you  do  it  well.  To  reach  the  summit  of 
the  hill  Excellence  there  are  many  paths,  and  each  person 
chooses  the  way  which  seems  to  him  the  best. 

So  it  is  with  art.  Each  master  works  in  his  own  par- 
ticular way. 

For  instance,  John  Philip  never  used  any  brown.  He 
composed  his  of  burnt  sienna  and  ivory  black. 

Then,  again,  Frank  Holl  omitted  black  from  his  list  of 
colours,  and  instead  used  Vandyke  brown  and  French  ultra- 
marine. 

Mr.  Pilleau,  the  water-colour  artist,  in  making  black 
when  he  paints  in  oil,  uses  burnt  sienna,  lake,  and  indigo. 
Some  artists  never  use  any  medium;  others  use  copal, 
Roberson’s  medium,  or  megilp ; whilst  many  pin  their 
faith  on  amber  varnish. 

In  the  use  of  few  or  many  colours,  there  is  also  a great 
variety  of  opinion.  Some  men,  like  the  Belgian  painter 
Alfred  Stevens,  glory  in  using  a very  full  palette.  ^J'aime 
une  palette  riche^  he  used  to  say  to  me. 


24 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


Others,  and  amongst  these  may  be  counted  men  cele- 
brated for  their  colouring,  like  to  restrain  themselves  in 
their  use  of  an  abundance  of  colour.  They  love  to  dis- 
cover all  the  potentialities  that  exist  in  one  primitive 
colour,  blended  in  greater  or  lesser  degree  with  any 
other. 

Place  your  colours  on  your  palette  as  best  pleases  you, 
but  I should  advise  you  to  do  so  with  a certain  method. 
If  the  colour  you  want  is  always  in  the* same  place,  your 
brush  will  mechanically  find  it  for  you. 

I will  give  you  a list  of  the  colours  as  I use  them,  in 
rotation  from  right  to  left  of  the  palette  : — Scarlet  vermi- 
lion, flake  white,  French  Naples  yellow,  yellow  ochre,  raw 
sienna,  burnt  sienna,  Indian  red,  pink  madder,  crimson 
madder,  cobalt,  ultramarine,  mummy,  Cassel  earth,  and 
ivory  black. 

I use  Vandyke  brown  now  instead  of  mummy,  which, 
though  a most  beautiful  colour,  is  not  considered  a good 
standing  one. 

Raw  umber  might  be  added  with  advantage  to  one’s 
palette. 

These  colours  are  more  than  sufficient  to  paint  the 
"figure  with. 

For  landscape,  you  may  require  Antwerp  blue  and 
chrome  yellow  and  emerald  green.  In  the  use  of  the  two 
latter  you  must  be  very  careful,  as  contact  with  the  air 
oxidises  them  and  turns  them  black.  Prussian  and 
Antwerp  blue  are  apt  to  fade,  or  fly  as  we  term  it. 
Cadmium  yellow  is  a good  substitute  for  chrome,  but 
it  is  not  so  strong.  These  latter  colours  I have  named 
must  never  be  used  for  painting  a head. 

Learn  to  paint  without  any  medium  whatever.  You 
will  find  your  difficulties  much  more  easily  overcome  if, 
in  the  first  instance,  you  accustom  yourself  to  do  without 
its  fallacious  aid. 


OIL  PAINTING. 


25 


In  Paris  I never  used  anything,  but  as  I find  the 
colours  prepared  in  London  are  mixed  with  less  oil,  and 
consequently  of  a thicker  subsistence  than  those  sold  in 
Paris,  I sometimes  use  a mixture  of  half  turpentine  and 
half  oil.  This  will  make  your  brush  move  more  easily 
over  the  canvas  when  you  are  drawing  in  your  head. 

Take  a fine-pointed  cameFs-hair  brush,  and  go  steadily 
over  your  lines  of  red  chalk,  always  remembering  never  to 
omit  testing  them  again  from  nature,  and  do  not  merely 
make  a tracing  over  your  drawing. 

For  this  purpose  use  a little  burnt  sienna  and  French 
ultramarine,  or  any  colour  that  you  like,  provided  it  be 
not  opaque. 

If  the  head  be  at  all  in  shadow,  rub  in  the  shadows 
thinly  with  some  transparent  mixture,  such  as  blue  and 
burnt  sienna,  so  as  to  give  a certain  amount  of  rotundity 
to  your  head.  This  will  help  you  in  deciding  where  to 
place  your  highest  light,  which  is  generally  on  the  roundest 
part  of  the  forehead  and  cheek  bones.  On  the  lip  and 
bridge  of  the  nose  you  will  perceive  it  also.  Sometimes  if 
the  hair  is  very  brilliant,  as  in  an  old  woman’s  head  with  a 
quantity  of  grey  hair,  the  highest  light  would  be  there. 

It  is  for  you  to  find  it  out.  Don’t  think  of  any  general 
rule,  but  look,  and  put  the  highest  light  where  you  see  that 
it  falls  on  the  head  that  you  are  painting. 

Fill  your  brush  with  plenty  of  colour.  The  light  part 
of  the  head  ought  always  to  be  painted  on  thickly. 

Try  and  get  it  exactly  the  right  colour — with  plenty  of 
white,  a little  yellow,  and  a little  red.  It  depends  upon  the 
head  you  are  painting  what  yellow  and  what  red  to  mix. 

Put  it  boldly  on  in  exactly  the  right  place,  and  leave  it 
there.  Don’t  touch  it  again  if  you  can  help  it. 

To  get  the  proper  warm  tone  of  your  high  lights,  com- 
pare them  with  a white  collar  or  handkerchief.  Beginners 
are  apt  to  get  the  light  parts  of  their  head  too  sickly  in  tone. 


26 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


Don’t  forget  that  you  are  trying  to  paint  transparent  flesh, 
with  warm  blood  coursing  through  it 

To  arrive  at  the  exact  value  of  tones,  to  give  to 
each  separate  touch  its  due  share  of  importance  in  relation 
to  another  one,  you  must  compare  each  tone  with  every 
other  whilst  you  are  painting,  and  this  you  must  continually 
do  if  you  wish  your  head  to  assume  the  appearance  of  a 
complete  whole. 

If  it  were  possible  to  paint  a picture  straight  through 
without  stopping,  you  would  have  the  perfection  of 
painting. 

This  I want  you  to  bear  in  mind  always,  as  it  wil) 
prevent  your  putting  down  meaningless  touches. 

Each  touch  should  express  something  of  the  modelling 
of  the  face. 

If  done  quickly,  a portrait  has  more  truth  and  life  in 
it,  because  the  effect  of  the  whole  has  never  been  lost 
sight  of. 

This  is  why  a sketch  has  so  often  such  charm  in  it. 

Directly  one  sees  the  labour  that  has  produced  the 
picture,  half  its  fascination  has  gone. 

The  great  art  is  to  hide  one’s  art. 

When  you  have  got  your  highest  light  well  placed,  turn 
your  attention  to  where  your  strongest  dark  will  be.  This 
mix  with  transparent  colour,  keeping  it  rich  in  tone — not 
dirty,  whatever  you  do.  Do  not  use  at  first  in  the  shadows 
any  of  the  opaque  colours,  such  as  white  or  the  lighter 
yellows.  Neither  make  your  shadows  too  hot  in  tone,  as 
if  they  are  they  will  tend  to  make  your  high  lights  look 
cold.  Blue,  either  cobalt  or  ultramarine,  mixed  with 
warmer  colours,  tends  to  keep  them  cool.  Now,  having 
the  deepest  dark  and  the  highest  light  of  your  head  on 
your  canvas,  you  must  paint  the  rest  of  it  in  relation  to 
these  two.  You  have  plenty  of  colours  on  your  canvas, 
so  work  away  with  them,  never  forgetting  that  you  must 


OIL  FAINTING. 


27- 


model  your  head,  i.e.,  produce  on  your  flat  surface  a 
rounded  object. 

Always  take  great  care  that  whatever  background  you 
put  in  it  is  always  there  before  you.  Your  background 
affects  your  head  to  a great  extent. 

If  your  background  is  painted  without  relation  to  the 
head,  the  latter,  however  well  painted,  will  look  false. 

Note  especially  how  the  head  relieves  against  it,  in 
which  part,  for  instance,  it  is  lighter  than  the  background, 
and  in  others  where  it  is  darker. 

I can  give  you  no  cut-and-dried  recipes  for  mixing  your 
colours. 

As  well  ask  a poet  what  words  he  would  choose  to 
clothe  his  ideas  in  ; or,  to  give  you  a more  homely  simile, 
to  expect  a cook  to  tell  you  the  exact  quantity  of  salt  or 
pepper  she  puts  into  each  dish  to  give  it  the  right  savour. 

This  mixing  of  colours  you  must  find  out  for  yourself, 
as  indeed  we  must  most  things  in  this  world. 

I can  give  you,  as  I promised,  a few  hints  only. 

Remember  that  in  whatever  you  do  it  is  you  yourself 
who  have  to  do  it  and  not  your  master.  Your  own  indi- 
viduality must  imbue  your  work. 

You  cannot  give  to  the  world  anything  but  what  is  in 
you.  Poetry,  music,  and  painting  are  only  the  visible 
expressions  of  one’s  inward  feelings. 

In  painting  a head  you  must  never  forget  that  you  are 
drawing  it,  although  you  do  it  in  colour  instead  of  in  black 
and  white.  The  latter  is  but  modelling  in  one  colour  and 
the  former  in  many. 

Don’t  forget,  also,  that  your  head  is  a round  and  not  a 
flat  object — make  it  so.  Make  us  feel  that  we  can  walk 
round  your  head. 

Ingres  used  to  say,  ‘ Good  drawing  is  probity  in  art.’ 

The  truth  of  a thing  must  always  impress  us,  and  that 
you  can  only  give  by  perfection  in  your  drawing. 


28 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


In  making  corrections  or  alterations  on  your  oil  paint- 
ing when  it  is  dry  enough,  there  is  a delightful  loose- 
textured  white  chalk  called  ^craieJ  It  never  scratches  the 
surface,  and  is  easily  washed  off.  A piece  of  common 
whitening  would  answer  the  same  purpose,  but  it  crumbles 
more  readily,  and  is  not  so  convenient  to  hold. 

For  brushes,  use  either  round  or  flat  hog’s  hair;  the 
larger  the  better.  For  fine  work  and  small  details  and 
delicate  drawing  you  can  get  hog’s  hair,  which  you  can 
manipulate  as  easily  as  you  can  a sable.  This  latter  is 
to  be  used  at  first  only  for  drawing  in. 

It  is  unwise  for  the  student  to  use  sables  for  anything 
else  until  he  is  quite  au  fait  with  his  brush  work,  as  the 
quality  of  smoothness  they  easily  obtain  for  the  artist  is 
detrimental  to  him  in  the  earlier  stages  of  his  work. 

There  are  some  brushes  called  ‘ Landseer,’  arranged 
very  thinly  in  a semicircle.  These  are  delightful  to  use  in 
giving  finishing  touches  to  an  animal’s  coat.  Many  Ger- 
man painters  use  brushes  two  or  three  feet  long.  Hogarth 
is  supposed  to  have  done  so  too.  Anyway,  it  is  splendid 
training  for  freedom  of  hand. 

For  studies,  I find  what  is  called  single  primed  canvas 
the  best.  It  is  easier  to  work  on.  If  you  want  your 
painting  to  look  very  solid,  then  get  your  canvas  doubly 
primed.  French  canvas  is  of  a very  fine  texture,  and  is 
charming  for  delicate  work.  Then  there  is  a coarse  twill 
which  is  well  adapted  for  landscapes  and  seascapes. 

For  sketches,  there  is  a paper  prepared  with  oil,  and 
which  you  can  buy  in  blocks  like  that  made  for  water 
colour,  and  there  is  brown  cardboard  called  millboard. 

For  finished  outdoor  sketches  there  is  nothing  nicer 
than  pine  wood  or  oak.  You  can  buy  them  any  size  you 
wish,  by  the  dozen,  to  fit  the  Fortuny  sketching-box,  and 
if  you  live  in  the  country  your  local  carpenter  can  easily 
prepare  them  for  you.  They  want  to  be  smoothly  planed, 


OIL  FAINTING, 


29 


about  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  Care  must  be 
taken  that  the  wood  is  well  seasoned,  so  that  it  does  not 
warp. 

It  is  as  well  to  be  provided  for  outdoor  sketching  with 
a palette  that  has  hinges  in  the  centre,  so  that  it  can  double 
up,  and  the  paint  being  thus  protected  it  can  easily  be 
carried  about,  without  fear  of  the  thousand  and  one 
accidents  that  are  liable  to  happen  to  an  uncovered 
palette. 

You  will  want  also  a dipper  containing  a little  tur- 
pentine and  oil,  as  colours  often  dry  too  quickly  in  the 
open  air,  and  it  is  difficult  when  this  happens  to  get  along 
as  fast  as  we  should  like. 

Rapidity  in  sketching  is  a thing  to  cultivate,  as  nature 
does  not  keep  the  same  face  on  for  long  together.  After 
being  used  to  a steady  studio  light,  we  find  the  instability 
and  fickleness  of  open-air  light  very  puzzling.  But  it  is 
capital  practice,  and  prevents  our  being  a slave  to  the 
conventional  effect  of  light  and  shade. 

I cannot  impress  upon  you  too  much  to  keep  your 
palette  and  brushes  clean.  If  at  the  end  of  your  day’s 
work  you  have  lumps  of  paint  left  upon  your  palette,  take 
each  colour  off  separately  with  a palette  knife  and  place 
them  in  a soup  plate.  Pour  water  on  them  until  they  are 
covered.  This  keeps  them  from  the  dust  and  air,  and 
whenever  you  want  them  again,  either  on  the  following  day 
or  a week  after,  you  will  find  their  condition  unaltered. 
After  you  have  taken  off  the  colour  that  you  wish  preserved 
for  another  day,  scrape  off  with  a palette  knife  all  the  rest 
of  the  paint  still  left  upon  your  palette,  and  rub  it  perfectly 
clean  and  dry  with  a little  turpentine  upon  a piece  of  rag. 
If  you  clean  your  palette  directly  you  have  done  with  it, 
you  will  find  no  difficulty  whatever;  but  if  you  leave  it 
untouched  for  a few  hours,  or,  worse  still,  until  the  next 
day,  you  will  find  it  no  easy  task  to  get  off  the  dry  paint. 


30 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


and  in  the  effort  to  do  so  you  will  perhaps  spoil  the  look 
of  your  palette  for  ever  by  making  little  notches  in  it  with 
your  knife. 

This  direction  applies  equally  to  your  brushes,  which 
are  easy  to  wash  if  attended  to  at  once. 

A little  soft  soap  and  lukewarm  water  will  cleanse  them 
best. 

If  you  find  it  difficult  to  take  out  all  the  paint,  rub 
your  brushes  about  in  the  palm  of  your  hand,  and  then 
when  quite  clean  rinse  them  out  in  cold  water,  which 
will  prevent  them  getting  too  soft. 

Your  camebs-hair  brushes  you  must  treat  more  tenderly. 
They  must  not  be  rubbed  in  the  hand,  and  care  must  be 
taken  to  leave  them  pointed  after  drying,  otherwise  they 
become  useless  to  draw  with. 

Sometimes  people  are  affected  by  the  smell  of  oil 
paints.  The  lead  of  which  some  of  them  are  composed 
enters  into  the  system,  and  gives  pains  that  are  known  by 
the  name  of  painters’  colic.  It  affects  also  the  muscles, 
paralysing  them  occasionally. 

The  way  to  obviate  these  unpleasantnesses  is  to  have 
your  room  well  ventilated. 

Tobin’s  ventilators  are  excellent  to  bring  fresh  air  into 
a room,  but  it  is  more  important  that  the  used-up  air 
should  be  carried  out  of  the  room.  To  do  this  a ven- 
tilator must  be  put  into  the  outer  wall  close  to  the  ceiling. 
If  this  is  attended  to  you  will  never  suffer  from  any  ill 
•effects. 

A basin  ot  water  takes  away  the  mere  smell  of  the 
paint,  which  is  often  so  disagreeable. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Water  Colours. 

About  water  colours  I find  it  easier  to  preach  than  to 
practise,  but  this  I think  we  all  do  about  a great  many 
things. 

However,  I have  had  lengthy  talks  with  many  ‘ potent, 
grave,  and  reverend  seigneurs,’  and  the  gist  of  our  conver- 
sations I will  retail  to  you. 

For  my  own  part,  I cannot  offer  you  a better  guide 
than  simplicity. 

Do  the  thing  you  wish  to  do  simply  and  boldly,  and 
give  it  the  impress  of  your  own  mind. 

The  way  in  which  another  person  works  is  only  valuable 
because  it  is  his  way.  As  soon  as  you  copy  it,  in  you  it 
becomes  valueless,  and  an  expert  can  with  facility  dis- 
tinguish the  copy  from  the  original. 

The  French  and  Spanish  school  of  water-colour  painters 
— in  which  there  are  many  famous  disciples,  notably  Men- 
doza and  Fortuny — follow  this  plan  of  painting,  simply  and 
directly  from  nature.  Being  thorough  masters  of  their 
craft,  they  arrive  at  an  effect  in  the  simplest  and  most 
facile  manner.  Hence  much  of  their  \york  possesses  the 
great  charm  that  a hurried  sketch  exercises,  that  of  being 
vividly  fresh,  and  painted  ^ au  premier  coup.^ 

They  know,  you  see,  what  they  want  to  paint,  and  do  it. 

But  there  is  another  style  of  water  colour,  whose  fasci- 


32 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


nation  consists  in  the  result  having  been  arrived  at  in  a 
more  subtle  and  laborious  manner. 

It  is  essentially  an  English  school,  and  its  great  apostles 
were  the  ever-lamented  Frederick  Walker,  and  a man  less 
known  but  of  even  more  original  genius  named  Pinwell. 
The  method  of  this  work  is  entrancing,  and  these  men 
thoroughly  carried  out  the  precept  that  ‘ artis  est  celai'e 
artem.' 

Although  I was  a personal  friend  of  Mr.  Frederick 
Walker,  I never  dared  to  question  him  about  the  mysteries 
of  his  method. 

For  what  I know  about  it,  I am  indebted  to  another 
friend,  Mr.  Pilleau,  who  is  himself  a distinguished  member 
of  the  Institute  of  Water  Colours. 

He  tells  me  that  Walker  used  a moderately  fine-grained 
paper.  He  first  damped  it  thoroughly,  and  then  with  a large 
hog’s-hair  brush,  similar  to  those  used  for  oil,  he  spread  on 
a mixture,  the  consistency  of  thin  cream,  composed  of 
large  quantities  of  Chinese  white,  with  a little  cadmium 
and  black,  the  colour  of  the  whole  being  a warm  grey. 
Before  it  dried  on  the  paper  it  was  rubbed  well  into  the 
surface  by  the  finger,  protected  by  a soft  linen  rag.  When 
this  was  done,  and  an  even  surface  produced,  it  was  allowed 
to  dry  for  three  or  four  days  at  least.  When  thoroughly 
dry,  he  painted  his  picture  on  it  in  pure  transparent 
colour. 

This  method  requires  great  knowledge  and  savoir  faire 
on  the  part  of  the  painter. 

No  second  thoughts,  which  are  so  often  considered 
best,  are  advisable,  as  once  the  work  of  obliteration  com- 
mences the  under  ground  gets  disturbed,  and  mixing  too 
freely  with  the  surface  results  in  muddiness. 

Mr.  Pilleau  tells  me  of  another  method,  which  I see  by 
the  result  is  excellent,  although  I myself  have  not  tried  it. 
This  is  painting  on  glass.  It  is  done  in  this  way. 


WATER  COLOURS. 


33 


Take  your  paper,  draw  in  the  outlines  of  your  subject 
in  colour,  and  then  let  it  get  thoroughly  soaked  by  allowing 
it  to  remain  in  a bath  all  night.  Then  put  it,  wet,  on  to  a 
sheet  of  glass,  and  whilst  in  this  state  paint  in  your  atmo- 
spheric effects,  letting  the  colours  blend  one  into  another. 

Keep  the  edges  of  your  paper  moist  by  repeated 
spongings. 

When  you  are  ready  for  the  finishing  details,  mount 
your  paper  in  the  ordinary  way  and  work  on  it  in  the 
usual  manner. 

Many  amateurs  are  under  the  impression  that  you  can- 
not obliterate  in  water  colour,  that  mistakes  once  made  are 
ineradicable. 

This  is  far  from  being  the  case. 

It  is  quite  as  easy  to  alter  as  it  is  in  oils,  and  water 
colour  has  the  advantage  over  the  other  method  of  never 
getting  into  a mess,  or  in  that  condition  which  is  described  as 
‘ tacky,’  and  which  is  so  heart-breaking  for  the  tyro  in  oils. 

A hog’s-hair  brush  can  do  wonders  in  the  way  of 
erasing,  and  so  can  a sponge. 

Then  there  is  the  knife,  carefully  and  delicately  used 
so  as  not  to  destroy  too  much  of  the  paper. 

If  you  damp  with  a brush  any  particular  spot  you  wish 
taken  out,  and  then  wipe  it  with  a piece  of  clean  linen  rag 
or  blotting-paper,  or,  better  still,  indiarubber,  you  will 
attain  your  object.  Sometimes  in  painting  hair  you  want 
some  fine  light  lines  to  stray  over  your  background  : take  a 
steel  drawing  pen,  dip  it  in  water,  and  then  make  your  line, 
and  wipe  it  dry  with  a rag. 

The  best  brushes  for  blending  your  colours  are  broad, 
flat  camel’s-hair. 

For  sky  effects,  damp  your  paper  thoroughly,  and  put 
your  colours  on  strongly  and  rather  dryer  than  your  moist 
surface,  in  order  to  avoid  too  much  running.  Then  exhaust 
the  moisture  by  using  one  of  the  large,  flat  brushes,  without 

D 


34 


HINTS  TO  AMA TENTS. 


water,  and  continually  kept  dry  by  wiping  it  on  blotting- 
paper.  Very  small  sponges  fastened  on  to  sticks  can  be 
obtained  for  sky  work. 

Hog’s-hair  brushes  are  very  useful  for  putting  in  foliage 
and  grasses. 

The  ones  called  the  Landseer  brush,  consisting  of  only 
a few  thin  hairs,  are  the  best  ones  for  the  purpose. 

A sponge  dipped  in  colours  and  managed  with  dex- 
terity, gives  charming  unforeseen  touches,  with  surprising 
effects  of  finish,  without  the  labour  usually  necessary. 

To  draw  a fine  line  easily  on  the  paper,  dip  your  brush 
into  a pot  of  ox-gall  before  applying  it  to  the  colour.  Some 
painters  habitually  put  a little  ox-gall  into  their  water.  It 
causes  the  colour  to  flow  more  easily. 

For  sky  effects,  distances,  and  middle  distances,  paint 
them  always  on  a wet  surface,  otherwise  they  will  be  hard 
and  painty,  and  will  give  no  sense  of  atmosphere. 

Endeavour  always  to  avoid  mixing  your  colours  on  the 
palette. 

The  three  primitive  colours,  viz.,  red,  blue,  and  yellow^ 
put  on  separately  on  a wet  surface,  produce  in  blending  a 
beautiful  opalesque  tone. 

Turner  and  De  Wint  painted  in  this  way  all  their  most 
bewitching  effects. 

If  you  study  Turner’s  water-colour  drawings,  which  can 
be  seen  by  application  at  the  National  Gallery,  you  will 
understand  what  I mean. 

Your  shadows  you  must  always  keep  very  transparent ; 
the  opacity  of  your  light  will  then  make  your  object  look 
solid. 

If  you  want  sun  in  your  sky,  tone  your  paper  with 
yellow  ochre  ; or  should  you  wish  to  suggest  great  heat, 
as  in  Eastern  skies,  use  cadmium  very  delicately. 

For  faint,  far-away  distances,  use  blue,  but  as  on  your 
yellowed  sky  it  may,  and  probably  will,  look  green,  use 


WATER  COLOURS. 


3S 


with  it  a homoeopathic  dose  of  Chinese  white — not  enough^ 
remember,  to  suggest  body  colour. 

You  can,  if  you  like  to  enhance  the  brilliancy  and 
transparent  depth  of  your  shadow,  use  with  your  colour  a 
little  of  what  is  called  ‘glass  medium.’ 

When  body  colour  is  used,  be  careful  to  avoid  making 
your  drawing  appear  cold,  which  the  use  of  it  so  often 
produces  in  landscape  sketching. 

A story  is  told  of  a painter  who,  to  avoid  this,  used  to 
put  on  his  canvas  a lump  of  yellow  ochre,  exclaiming  while* 
he  did  so,  ‘ Stay  there,  my  friend,  until  you  become  white.’ 

This  illustrates  the  fact  that  everything  in  painting  is  a 
question  of  degrees  of  tone. 

You  may  paint  in  as  high  a key  or  as  low  a key  as  you 
like,  provided  it  is  all  in  keeping.  If  the  proper  values  are- 
kept  your  picture  will  look  true. 

About  colours.  Those  called  slow-drying  tubes  are  the 
best.  A little  honey  is,  I believe,  mixed  in  their  prepara- 
tion with  the  water,  and  this  keeps  them  longer  in  a state- 
of  moisture. 

Learn  to  paint  with  as  simple  a palette  as  you  can,  i.e.y 
using  few  colours. 

You  will  in  this  way  find  out  the  potentiality  that  each 
colour  possesses,  and  you  will  discover  all  the  charm  that 
lies  hidden  away  in  grey  neutral  tones. 

Any  further  elaboration  in  the  schemes  of  colour  you 
wish  to  produce  can  be  better  evolved  by  the  adept  than 
the  tyro. 

Be  very  sparing  in  your  use  of  emerald  green,  which,  as- 
well  as  cadmium,  has  a fatal  tendency  to  turn  black,  i.e.^ 
to  get  oxidised  by  exposure  to  the  air. 

Cobalt  and  indigo  are  both  good  blues. 

Of  yellows,  there  are  ochre,  Indian  yellow,  raw  sienna^ 
and  gamboge. 

This  latter  is  chiefly  used  as  a glaze  over  yellow  ochre 


3^ 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


to  give  a sunny,  luminous  effect.  I have  already  told  you, 
I think,  that  cadmium  must  be  sparingly  used. 

Of  the  reds,  you  can  use  lake,  rose  madder,  Indian  red, 
or  Venetian  red  and  vermilion.  Of  browns,  burnt  sienna, 
brown  madder,  Vandyke  brown,  and  sepia.  Olive  green 
is  a good  colour.  Black  is  useful,  chiefly  for  grey  tones. 
It  seldom  conveys  the  impression  of  black  when  used 
alone. 

There  are  so  many  tones  and  colours  in  black.  The 
‘ black  as  my  hat  ’ expression  conveys  the  impression  of  the 
deepest  depth  of  black  one  can  arrive  at ; but  we  see  at 
once  the  fallacy  of  this  idea  when  w^e  are  asked  the  ques- 
tion, ‘What  is  blacker  than  my  hat?’  and  we  are  told  when 
we  give  up  the  riddle,  ‘A  hole  in  it’  A black  hat  reflects 
so  much  light  on  its  shiny  surface,  that  by  the  side  of  a 
hole  in  it  into  which  no  rays  of  light  penetrate,  the  hat 
appears  and  has  to  be  painted  quite  grey. 

To  make  a black,  burnt  sienna  and  French  ultramarine 
are  a good  mixture. 

For  strong  effects  of  light  and  shade — in  Eastern 
interiors,  for  example,  where  a pervading  warmth  of  tone 
is  desired  — Mr.  Carl  Haag  and  Mr.  Pilleau’s  method  is 
to  make  use  of  the  three  primitive  colours — yellow,  red, 
ind  blue. 

Damp  your  paper  and  then  wash  it  over  boldly  with 
yellow  ochre. 

After  that  is  dry,  give  it  a wash  of  Venetian  or  light 

red. 

Let  it  again  dry,  and  give  it  a last  wash  of  blue. 

This  gives  a delightful  tone  on  which  you  can  paint 
your  picture. 

The  portions  which  you  wish  white  damp  with  a wet 
brush,  dry  with  blotting-paper,  and  then  take  your  india- 
rubber  and  rub  off  any  tone  that  may  be  left. 

You  will  find  that  your  paper  shows  brilliantly  white. 


WATER  COLOURS. 


37 


If  you  wish  to  get  a delicate  high  light,  or  a line  of 
white,  make  use  of  bread  instead  of  indiarubber. 

You  can  always  get  rid  of  any  colour  that  you  wish  to 
change  by  rubbing  it  off  your  paper  with  a wet  hog’s-hair 
brush,  the  same  as  those  used  for  oils,  and  then  applying 
blotting-paper  to  absorb  the  liquid  colour.  Sometimes  in 
painting  a water  colour,  one  wishes  a portion  of  the  paper 
to  be  smoother  than  another — for  the  face,  for  instance. 
Rub  the  part  carefully  with  No.  o sandpaper,  and  you 
will  get  a surface  as  smooth  and  polished  as  ivory. 

Try  to  make  up  your  mind  at  first  as  to  the  strength  of 
your  different  washes,  and  put  them  in  at  their  right  degree 
of  depth  at  once. 

They  are  apt  if  painted  over  and  over  again  to  become 
muddled,  especially  when  brown  is  used. 

The  under  surface  gets  swept  up  when  applying  a wash. 

Some  people  think  it  a good  plan  to  make  a black  and 
white  sketch  of  their  subject,  which  they  keep  near  their 
picture  as  a guide  for  the  effect  they  are  seeking  for. 

It  is  a good  test,  as  a rule,  for  a picture  to  translate  well 
into  black  and  white. 

Gustave  Dore  understood  better  the  monochromed  side 
of  nature  than  the  coloured  one.  The  French  used  to  say 
of  him  that  he  drew  with  his  brush  and  painted  with  his 
pencil. 

Should  your  colours  get  dry  with  non-use,  a good 
sluicing  under  a pump  will ' benefit  them,  and  then  for  any 
obstinate  dryness  a drop  of  glycerine  carefully  placed  will 
work  wonders. 

For  your  paper,  always  use  Whatmaffs  hand-made.  It 
is  by  far  the  best.  You  can  get  it  specially  prepared  in 
blocks  of  any  dimensions. 

These  are  useful  if  you  wish  to  do  a quantity  of  rough 
sketching ; but  if  you  wish  to  do  a drawing  that  will  take 
some  time,  and  you  do  not  want  to  be  incessantly  troubled 


.38 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


with  the  puckering  of  your  paper  when  it  gets  damped,  you 
must  have  your  paper  stretched.  This  you  can  have  done 
on  canvas,  or  a panel  of  wood  made  expressly  for  the 
purpose.  The  paper  is  simply  pasted  on.  It  is  much 
nicer  to  work  on  in  this  way,  and  it  never  puckers. 

You  can  always  buy  good  water-colour  paper  mounted 
on  cardboard,  which  you  can  cut  to  any  size,  and  which 
does  admirably  for  sketching  or  studies.  The  convenience 
of  these  cardboards  is  their  portability  and  the  small  space 
they  take  up  when  one  is  travelling. 

You  must  be  careful  to  keep  your  paper  in  a dry  place, 
as  it  easily  mildews.  Spots  then  appear  on  its  surface,  but 
only  after  you  have  commenced  your  painting,  and  then  they 
are  as  impossible  to  get  rid  of  as  the  imaginary  spot  of  blood 
on  Lady  Macbeth’s  hand.  When  this  happens,  one  is  sadly 
tempted  to  quote  her  verbatim.  In  buying  paper,  it  is  best 
to  test  it  by  passing  a brush  full  of  water  over  it.  If  no 
spot  appear  then  it  is  sound,  and  the  paper  will  be  none  the 
worse  for  its  wetting.  For  the  different  qualities  of  paper 
to  buy,  it  depends  upon  the  subject  you  wish  to  paint. 

If  for  a rapid  outdoor  sketch,  roughly-grained  paper 
helps  to  give  a ^finished  effect,  and  for  buildings,  stone 
walls,  and  shops,  it  is  very  effective. 

For  very  highly-finished  drawings,  heads  especially,  the 
absence  of  grain  in  the  paper  is  preferable,  as  its  presence 
would  destroy  the  illusion  we  wish  to  preserve. 

Mr.  Birket  Foster,  I am  told,  for  his  small  landscapes 
uses  Bristol  board  of  a very  fine  quality. 

There  is  a rougher  sort  made,  excellent  for  painting 
flowers  on. 

Another  paper  that  water-colourists  affect  is  called 
Varley’s  sugar-paper.  It  is  similar  to  the  paper  that 
white  sugar  cones  are  encased  in. 

Curling -paper,  which  has  a whitey-brown  tone  about 
it,  pasted  on  cardboard  makes  capital  boards  for  sketching. 


WATER  COLOURS. 


39 


The  tone  of  the  paper  shows  through  and  has  a good 
effect,  particularly  in*  slight  body-colour  sketching. 

Old  paper,  provided  the  damp  has  not  touched  it,  is  far 
better  than  new,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  the  size  used 
in  its  preparation,  which  time  has  caused  to  evaporate. 

There  is  good  paper  for  sketching  called  ‘ Creswick,’ 
after  the  celebrated  landscape  painter,  and  of  two  kinds, 
rough  and  smooth. 

Another  good  paper  bears  the  strange-sounding  name 
of  ‘ 140  Not,’  and  is  excellent  for  sketching. 

For  highly-finished  work  there  is  antiquarian  paper. 

Fland-made  paper  is  always  the  best,  but  there  is  a 
very  good  machine  paper  called  ‘ Harding.’  You  can  get 
it  of  any  quality  and  texture. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Pastel — Photography — Sketching  from  Nature. 

Pastel. 

I PREFER  to  call  it  Pastel,  although  one  can,  and  many  do, 
speak  of  it  as  ^ Pastil.’ 

This,  to  my  mind,  savours  too  much  of  the  druggist’s 
shop,  of  sick-rooms,  foetid  atmosphere,  and  other  abomina- 
tions. 

Pastel  is  pure  colour  ground  up  with  gum-water  to 
make  it  slightly  adhesive.  It  is  made  into  small  sticks, 
and  the  colours  chromatically  arranged  in  smaller  or  larger 
boxes,  containing  from  about  a dozen  to  seven  hundred 
and  fifty. 

I find  it  an  excellent  intermediary  between  black  and 
white  and  the  more  difficult  and  exacting  mediums  of  oil 
and  water  colours. 

It  is  an  easier  method  as  far  as  the  mere  colour  goes, 
and  it  never  gets  ‘ tacky,’  nor  does  it  sink  in  after  the 
second  coating  and  become  ‘ dead.’ 

But,  for  all  that,  to  do  it  well  one  must  know  how  to 
draw. 

This  is  the  chief  difference  that  exists  between  a good 
or  a bad  pastel,  whether  it  is  or  is  not  well  drawn. 

Colour  often  hides  a multitude  of  sins  of  drawing,  but 
in  nothing  is  it  less  efficient  in  doing  so  than  in  a pastel. 


PASTEL. 


41 


A badly-drawn  pastel  gives  one  at  once  the  effect  of  a 
vulgar  ‘ plum  - box  ^ advertisement,  whilst  a well-drawn 
pastel,  with  its  purity  of  colouring,  strikes  one  as  an 
impress  of  truth  and  vitality. 

For  practising  on,  there  is  a paper  sold  rather  like 
sandpaper.  Its  gritty  surface  serves  as  a ground  for  the 
pastel  powders  to  hold  on  to.  When  you  do  a really 
important  work,  get  specially  - prepared  canvas,  which  is 
mounted  in  the  ordinary  way.  This  to  the  touch  is  like 
soft  velvet,  and  is  infinitely  pleasanter  to  work  upon. 

On  occasions — its  tint  being  of  a beautiful  neutral 
tone — it  serves  as  a background;  only  when  so  used 
care  must  be  taken  not  to  soil  it,  as  the  greasy  stain 
which  the  pastel  chalk  leaves  is  very  difficult  to  erase. 

Of  course  one’s  outline  in  such  a case  must  be  absolutely 
perfect,  and  requiring  no  alterations,  otherwise  ‘ good-bye  ’ 
to  your  canvas  background. 

The  best  pastels  to  use  are  the  very  soft  ones.  You 
can  get  a box  with  about  fifty  different  tints,  for  in  pastel 
you  require  a multiplicity  of  shades  of  one  colour — mixing 
colours,  as  one  does  oiF  paint,  being  unknown.  You 
require  many  strokes  or  layers  of  various  pure  colours  to 
compose  the  one  you  wish  to  produce. 

In  the  first  instance  you  draw  your  subject — a head,  let 
us  say — in  any  one  warm  tint,  either  red  or  brown.  You 
then  fill  in  the  rest  of  the  face  and  hair  with  the  warmest 
crude  colours,  exaggerating  every  tone.  After  that  you  lay 
in  your  greys  and  all  the  other  colours  that  are  necessary 
in  order  to  produce  the  look  of  flesh.  It  will  be  fatal  to 
the  result  you  wish  to  obtain  if  you  commence  with  greys. 
You  will  get  a cold  tone  which  will  pervade  your  pastel, 
and  which  nothing  can  get  rid  of. 

At  your  first  sitting,  your  victim’s  head  will  look  like  a 
Red  Indian’s  illumined  by  an  orange  sunset.  Never  mind, 
work  in  your  greys,  and  you  will  get  cool,  transparent  skin, 


42 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


underneath  which  the  warm  life-blood  is  coursing.  The 
same  with  the  hair — make  it  warm  underneath  and  put 
your  grey  lights  on  afterwards. 

Try  and  avoid  too  much  rubbing  in  of  your  colour. 
Superimpose  one  tint  upon  another  lightly.  They  will  mix 
sufficiently,  and  the  general  effect  in  the  end  is  far  better. 
In  rubbing  in,  you  get  your  colours  into  a greasy  paste, 
upon  which  it  is  difficult  to  get  any  other  tint  to  hold.  In 
fact,  you  lose  the  grit,  the  resistance  in  your  ground,  which 
is  so  essential  to  pastel  drawing.  In  commencing  your 
head  in  this  fiery  manner,  be  careful  to  obliterate  all  traces 
of  it.  Your  reds  must  only  be  seen  through  your  greys,  and 
not  left  alone  in  their  crudity.  I find  students  are  afraid 
to  obliterate  their  warm  colours,  forgetting  they  are  only 
intended  as  groundwork.  It  is  as  unpleasant  to  see  too 
red  a pastel  as  too  cold  a one.  The  only  places  where 
your  vivid  crimsons  may  be  left  are  in  the  nostrils,  corners 
of  eyes,  and  mouth.  This  gives  a vitality  to  the  intense 
depths  you  wish  you  produce. 

I have  been  often  asked  whether  pastel  will  last.  The 
other  day  I saw  one  beautiful  in  colour  and  quite  uninjured 
in  any  way.  I looked  at  the  date,  1790.  This  speaks 
for  itself.  There  is  in  Venice  a beautiful  pastel  by  Van- 
dyke. In  the  Louvre  one  has  many  masterpieces  in  good 
preservation. 

It  is  wiser,  particularly  if  your  pastel  drawing  has  to 
make  a journey,  after  you  have  finished  it,  to  set  it  before 
framing  it.  You  can  buy  a liquid  prepared  especially  for 
this  purpose.  Directions  for  using  it  will  be  upon  the 
bottle.  The  liquid  has  to  be  sprayed  through  a tube 
similar  to  one  used  for  scent.  Take  great  care  to  stand  a 
sufficient  distance  from  your  drawing,  so  that  the  moisture 
will  disperse  itself  upon  it  like  an  impalpable  dust.  I 
find  beginners  so  often  put  too  much  liquid  on  by 
standing  too  close,  and  then  their  drawing  gets  smudged. 


FHOTOGI^AFIIY. 


43 


By  touching  a part  carefully  with  the  tip  of  the  finger  you 
can  judge  whether  it  is  sufficiently  set.  You  can  spray  it 
many  times,  until  you  get  the  desired  result.  By  setting  it, 
however,  I find  the  whole  tone  is  slightly  lowered — your 
whites  are  never  quite  so  brilliant  afterwards.  This  you 
can  remedy  by  retouching  the  portions  you  consider  have 
been  too  much  lowered  in  tone.  The  setting  a pastel, 
unlike  the  finishing  varnish  on  an  oil  painting,  never  pre- 
vents your  working  on  it  again. 

Photography. 

Photography  is  an  expensive  amusement  to  the  amateur, 
who  cannot  cope  with  the  professional  in  making  it  pay 
by  selling  his  productions.  Still,  it  is  a most  delightful 
and  engrossing  pursuit,  and  to  the  artist  is  of  incalculable 
advantage  in  photographing  his  picture  when  finished,  and 
also  in  photographing  it  whilst  in  process  of  being  done. 
The  faults  of  his  drawing  and  composition  proclaim  them- 
selves with  unerring  exactitude,  and  he  is  forced  in  con- 
sequence to  get  rid  of  the  defects  the  unflattering  lens 
has  given  prominence  to. 

If  the  drawing  be  good  on  the  canvas,  it  will  look  life- 
like when  reproduced  by  photography. 

I know  an  artist,  an  R.A.,  who  when  he  paints  a land- 
scape takes  the  precaution  of  causing  to  be  photographed 
the  identical  spot  he  is  going  to  portray,  and  he  is  never 
satisfied  unless  nature  and  his  own  work  when  photo- 
graphed give  the  same  effect  on  the  sensitised  paper. 

Sometimes,  provided  the  camera  is  all  ready  for  use,  an 
effect  of  drapery  is  useful  to  seize  and  retain.  So  many 
transitory  beautiful  arrangements  of  line  are  lost  for  ever 
unless  photography  with  its  ‘ artful  aid  ’ comes  to  the 
rescue.  Do  not,  however,  be  persuaded  to  call  in  its  help 
for  portraiture.  It  is  a delusion  and  a snare.  Under  no 


44 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


circumstances  can  you  get  rid  of  the  conscious  uneasiness 
which  pervades  the  unhappy  victim  of  photographic  experh 
ment.  Hence  the  ‘stiffs  portrait.  Besides,  a photograph 
is  never  quite  true  in  drawing ; the  feature  nearest  the  lens 
is  always  too  large.  Looking  at  a profile,  one  sees  at  once 
how  disproportionate  is  the  size  of  the  ear  to  the  rest  of  the 
features. 

Sketching  from  Nature. 

There  is  no  more  delightful  occupation  in  the  world,, 
provided  there  be  not  much  wind,  nor  many  flies,  nor,, 
what  is  far  worse  than  all,  children — strangers  to  baths  and 
pocket-handkerchiefs — who  come,  as  a Yankee  would  ex- 
press it,  ‘sniffing  around.’  At  these  moments  you  feel  it 
had  been  better  had  you  never  been  born. 

But  outside  these  discomforts,  and  given  a bright,  fresh 
day,  with  just  enough  elasticity  in  the  air  to  enable  one  to- 
feel  a pleasure  in  living,  the  delight  of  working  in  the  open 
air  is  most  invigorating.  How  beautiful  is  the  sky  with  its 
ever-changing  panorama  of  fleecy  clouds,  which  tell  some- 
times dark  against  the  blue  ether  or  sometimes  bright  as 
the  lightest  white  on  our  palette. 

Anon  there  is  a grey  sky,  with  a pearly  warmth  in  its 
tone  that  makes  us  despair  of  ever  rendering  its  exact  hue, 
guiltless  as  it  is  of  anything  cold  or  raw. 

And  then  the  sunsets  ! Can  any  mere  black  fluid,  such 
as  ink,  convey  to  you  all  I should  like  to  say  about  the 
glorious  wealth  of  colour  nature  spreads  before  us  with  a 
lavish  hand  for  our  delight  ? Where  else  can  we  see  such 
opalescent  hues,  such  tender  pinks,  fading  into  palest 
greens  and  blues  ? And  sometimes,  by  the  side  of  still 
waters,  when  our  eyes  are  satiated  with  the  radiance  of  the 
perfect  colouring  above,  we  cast  them  down,  and  lo  ! the 
wonder  of  it  ! in  the  bosom  of  the  lake  beneath  us  we  have 
a reflex  of  it  all,  more  tender  and  more  beautiful  still. 


SKETCHING  FROM  NATURE. 


45 


It  is  despairing  work  attempting  to  reproduce  some  of 
the  loveliness  of  this  beautiful  world — the  world  that  God 
saw  was  good — with  morsels  of  ground  earth  and  bits  of 
mineral,  yet  the  mere  trying  to  do  so  is  a ^joy  for  ever.’ 

Truly,  work  is  a heaven-sent  blessing,  and  when  it  falls 
in  such  pleasant  places  as  a landscape  painter’s  does,  he  has 
cause  to  be  eternally  grateful. 

Now  to  descend  to  the  practical  part  of  it.  Any 
colour-shop  will  fit  you  out  for  any  lengthy  sketching 
expedition.  I find  the  large  Fortuny  boxes  for  oil,  con- 
taining panels  of  wood,  or  a frame  for  fastening  pieces  of 
canvas  on,  the  best. 

There  is  a strap  which  you  can  pass  round  your  waist, 
which  relieves  the  weight  and  prevents  its  tumbling  off 
your  lap.  You  can  use  the  box  without  an  easel,  the  lid 
holding  your  board  at  a proper  angle.  With  this  containing 
all  you  want,  an  umbrella  with  a long  spiked  handle,  and  a 
camp-stool,  you  can  spend  many  happy  hours. 

Fix  upon  the  exact  spot  you  wish  to  do,  and  if  you  are 
in  doubt  as  to  how  much  will  come  on  to  your  canvas, 
make  an  opening  in  a piece  of  cardboard — your  own 
visiting-card  will  do — leaving  on  all  four  sides  a narrow 
strip  as  frame,  and  look  through  this  on  to  your  land- 
scape. 

Just  what  you  see  through  that  and  no  more  you  must 
put  on  your  canvas,  as  that  is  all  that  actually  meets  your 
eye  at  one  time. 

Sketching  must,  to  be  worth  anything,  be  done  alia 
prima — that  is,  every  touch  must  be  put  down  as  you  wish 
it  left. 

You  cannot  return  to  a spot  to  finish  a sketch. 

The  sky  you  left  blue  one  day  perhaps  is  an  iron  grey 
the  next,  and  the  whole  landscape  in  consequence  has 
changed  its  tone  under  its  influence.  To  see  this  exem- 
plified at  its  clearest,  watch  the  sea  on  a stormy  day.  One 


46 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


moment  it  is  indigo  blue,  black,  and  sullen,  then  a grey- 
green  steals  over  it,  which  gives  place  in  its  turn  to  a murky 
drab.  Sometimes  the  sea-line  tells  dark  against  the  sky, 
and  again  it  is  just  the  reverse.  All  these  things  have  to 
be  studied,  and  the  moment  desired  only  depicted.  Many 
sketchers  make  the  mistake  of  painting  effects  that  could 
not  co-exist  at  the  same  moment. 

I find  it  a good  plan  in  painting  a large  landscape 
which  could  not  be  done  under  many  days,  of  making  a 
small  sketch  of  it  under  the  effect  I wish  to  paint,  and 
then  I always  have  this  by  me  as  a reminder  of  my  first 
intention.  Nothing  in  this  world  is  more  difficult  to  fight 
against  than  ‘ the  being  led  away  with,^  and  in  nothing  is  it 
more  disastrous  in  its  consequences,  at  least  to  an  artist, 
than  in  landscape  painting. 

In  doing  a sketch  pure  and  simple,  do  it  and  leave  it. 
Never  patch  it  up,  and  try  to  finish  it  when  your  landscape 
is  no  longer  before  you. 

A sketch  half  finished  from  nature  will  have  more 
merit  in  it  to  the  person  who  knows,  than  the  same 
one  tidied  up  and  finished  out  of  nothing  but  your  own 
head. 

You  would  not  dare  to  finish  a copy  of  an  old  master 
without  the  original  before  you. 

As  a form  of  amusement,  copying  may  be  freely 
indulged  in,  but  the  student  must  not  imagine  that  he 
is  really  learning  anything  when  he  sets  himself  to 
mechanically  reproduce  the  thoughts  of  another. 

As  well  might  a would-be  poet  sit  down  and  transcribe 
the  verses  of  a laureate,  and  fondly  imagine  that  he  is 
developing  his  own  latent  talents.  No ! Art  is  only  art 
when  it  is  creative,  and  to  be  a creator  you  must  be  self- 
reliant.  At  the  same  time,  in  your  upward  progress  you 
must  study  well  what  others  have  done  before  you. 

As  our  great  master  in  Modern  Painters  writes,  ‘ Every 


SKETCHING  FROM  NATURE, 


47 


great  man  is  always  being  helped  by  everybody,  for  his  gift 
is  to  get  good  out  of  all  things  and  all  persons.’ 

For  this  reason  I like  my  pupils  to  spend  at  least  one 
day  a-month  at  the  National  Gallery,  and  whilst  there  to 
do  a sketch  in  colour  of  a picture,  noting  as  they  do  so  the 
principle  of  its  composition  and  its  scheme  of  colour.  In 
this  way  they  learn  the  effect  of  things,  and  insensibly 
develop  the  art  of  composition  in  themselves.  They 
understand  how  to  express  themselves,  when,  later  on, 
they  also  have  something  to  say. 

To  further  this  latter  end,  I give  once  a-month  a 
subject  for  composition  on  which  they  try  their  ^ ’prentice 
hand.’ 

There  is  a very  good  game — I forget  what  it  is  called — 
in  which  the  players  have  a sheet  of  paper  and  a pencil, 
and  they  draw  an  historical  subject  without  giving  it  a 
title.  The  other  players  have  to  guess  the  subject. 

It  often  happens  that  a person  thoroughly  devoid  of  ail 
art  training  is  better  able  to  give  us  an  idea  of  his  meaning 
than  one  who  knows  how  to  draw  accurately  the  anatomy 
of  a figure. 

The  reason  of  this  is  because  the  former  has  a more 
dramatic  mind.  He  is  better  able  to  conceive  in  his  inner 
eye  the  attitudes  and  gestures  certain  people  would  assume 
under  given  circumstances. 

This  faculty  is  called  visualising,  and  is  of  immense 
help  to  an  actor  or  artist.  Whether  we  are  born  with  it 
or  not,  we  ought  all  of  us  to  try  and  develop  it.  I give 
in  my  school  of  art  a subject  once  a-month,  which  the 
pupils  have  to  illustrate  without  any  external  aid.  It 
teaches  them  to  develop  their  feeling  for  composition  of 
line,  and  also  their  perception  of  the  harmonies  of 
colour. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Anatomy. 

If  you  wish  to  draw  well,  you  must  certainly  understand 
a little  about  anatomy. 

The  knowledge  of  it  will  prevent  you  making  glaring 
faults,  and  it  will  teach  you  if  your  drawing  of  a figure 
look  incorrect  to  understand  why  it  be  so. 

You  will  also  find  it  a great  help  in  composing  your 
pictures. 

It  will  do  you  no  harm  to  study  anatomy  thoroughly, 
but  you  must  be  very  careful  not  to  put  too  much  of  your 
knowledge  into  your  pictures. 

The  great  thing,  remember,  is  to  hide  all  evidences  of 
the  mechanism  of  your  art. 

An  artist  deals  only  with  nature,  as  far  as  form  goes,  in 
her  most  superficial  state. 

I once  asked  a celebrated  surgeon,  whose  talent  with 
his  brush  put  him  outside  the  pale  of  amateurism  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  word  is  generally  understood,  whether 
his  knowledge  of  anatomy  helped  him  at  all  in  his  drawing. 

‘ On  the  contrary,’  he  said,  ‘ it  puts  me  out.’ 

You  see  by  this  what  you  have  to  avoid.  Your  too 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject  is  apt  to  affect  your 
treatment  of  what  is  only  seen  by  the  eye. 

The  same  rule  applies  to  perspective.  Your  knowledge 
of  the  forms  and  colours  of  objects  must  be  second  to  your 
observation  of  them,  of  what  is  seen  by  the  eye  only. 


ANATOMY, 


49 


The  artist’s  province  is  only  to  paint  what  he  sees. 

Even  in  the  most  imaginative  pictures,  everything 
depicted  must  bear  a certain  look  of  familiarity  to  the 
eye,  otherwise  it  would  be  voted  unnatural,  and  so  lose 
its  power  of  appealing  to  the  spectators. 

We  ought  to  know  the  form  of  the  skeleton,  and  be 
able  to  draw  it  pretty  accurately  from  memory. 

The  knowledge  of  it  will  teach  us  to  judge  whether  the 
model  is  in  good  proportion  or  not,  and  will  enable  us  to 
correct  what  is  faulty  in  nature. 

The  relative  size  and  position  of  the  muscles  is  most 
important. 

Without  a certain  knowledge  of  how  they  act,  you  will 
find  it  difficult  to  place  your  figures  in  motion. 

There  are  people  who  have  a gift  of  depicting  action 
without  an  apparent  knowledge  of  anatomy — like  the 
Japanese,  for  instance.  But  then  it  must  be  remembered 
they  have  the  human  form  much  more  often  before  them 
with  little  or  no  garments  to  impede  their  study  of  it,  and 
their  eyes  get  insensibly  accustomed  to  the  right  lines. 

The  Greeks  had  many  more  facilities  than  we  have  in 
the  present  day,  for  not  only  did  they  constantly  see  the 
nude  before  them,  but  they  saw  it  in  its  most  perfect  state, 
from  the  training  it  received  through  public  games  and 
athletic  exercises. 

The  first  thing  an  artist  ought  to  learn  by  heart  is  the 
true  proportions  of  the  human  figure. 

I will  give  you  a few  important  rules  to  remember. 

The  Greeks  considered  a small  head  to  be  a beauty, 
and  in  all  their  statues  typical  of  mere  beauty  they  divide 
the  human  figure  into  eight  heads,  and  this  gives  a certain 
dignity  and  grace. 

If  a full-length  be  divided  into  more  than  eight  heads 
it  will  only  suggest  weakness  and  disproportion. 

For  figures  requiring  a display  of  greater  strength,  one 

E 


50 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


should  never  put  more  than  seven  and  a half  heads.  The 
difficulty  in  England  is  to  get  a model  of  proper  propor- 
tions. The  generality  of  English  people  are  only  seven 
heads  in  height,  or  even  six  and  a half.  Their  chief  defect 
lies  in  the  shortness  of  the  thigh-bone  or  femur,  and  one 
recognises  the  work  of  artists  who  have  not  studied  anatomy 
by  the  figures  depicted  in  their  pictures  having  very  long 
bodies  and  abnormally  short  legs. 

Professor  Marshall  gives  us  in  his  ‘ Table  of  Propor- 
tions ’ the  rules  for  a figure  of  a little  more  than  seven 
heads  and  a half.  Your  figure  may  be  any  size,  from  one 
inch  or  less  to  six  feet  or  more,  but  whatever  length  you 
make  it  you  must  remember  to  subdivide  it  into  seven 
divisions  and  a half. 

The  head  will  take  one  entire  length  always  from  the 
vertex  or  crown  to  below  the  chin.  Hence  it  is  we  call  our 
lengths  ‘ heads, ^ for  by  the  head  we  can  always  measure  and 
test  the  accuracy  of  our  divisions. 

If  you  are  drawing  from  life,  you  take  your  measure- 
ments, by  holding  out  your  pencil  at  arm's  length,  and 
with  your  thumb  mark  off  the  part  measured. 

The  second  length,  or  head,  will  extend  from  the  chin, 
to  the  lower  end  of  the  sternum  or  chest-bone,  a little  below 
the  level  of  the  nipples. 

The  third  part  reaches  from  the  sternum  to  the  top  of 
the  hip,  and  comes  a little  lower  than  the  elbow-joint. 

The  fourth  ends  at  the  lowest  portion  of  the  trunk, 
exactly  on  a line  with  the  wrist. 

Always  remember  that  the  head  and  trunk  can  be  divided 
into  four  divisions,  of  which  the  head  is  exactly  one-fourth. 

The  fifth  division  comes  to  a little  above  the  knee-joint. 

The  sixth  to  the  angle  that  the  muscle  of  the  calf  makes 
at  its  greatest  width,  and  the  seventh  at  the  ankle-bone. 

This  will  leave  half  a head  for  the  rest  of  the  body  from 
the  ankle  to  under  the  foot. 


ANA  TOA/K 


51 


These  measurements,  if  remembered,  will  help  you  im- 
mensely in  putting  your  figure  into  proper  proportions. 

You  will  also  want  to  know  the  proper  lengths  for  your 
arms  and  legs. 

You  will  find  that  in  the  man,  the  top  of  the  arm  com- 
mences at  a little  above  the  half  of  the  second  head,  and 
that  in  a woman  it  comes  at  exactly  the  half,  measuring 
from  the  top  of  the  head ; the  elbow  comes  to  a little  above 
the  third  division,  and  the  wrist  to  just  a little  above  the 
fourth,  whilst  the  tip  of  the  second  finger  comes  to  about 
four  and  three-quarters. 

Measuring  from  the  top  of  the  arm,  the  upper  part  takes 
a little  less  than  one  and  a half,  the  wrist  a little  less  than 
two  divisions  and  a half,  whilst  the  whole  of  the  arm  takes 
about  three  divisions  and  a quarter. 

Now  the  leg  takes  about  four  heads,  or  divisions,  from 
the  socket  of  the  thigh-bone  to  the  heel,  or  base  of  the  foot, 
and  is  divided  in  the  centre  by-  the  k^ee-joint.  The  socket 
is  not  shown  externally,  but  is  just  about  one-fourth  of  a 
division  higher  than  where  one  can  see  the.  head  of  the 
thigh-bone. 

I will  give  you.  the  nam€s  of  the  bones,  which  it  is  as 
well  to  be  conversant  with. 

The  skull,  which^Comprises  the  head  an^^ace ; 

The  spine,  or  ^[spinal  column^ it  is  called,  starting 
from  the  skull  to  a little  below  the  top  of  the  thigh-bone  \ 

The  ribs,  which,  twelve  in  number,  are  attached  behind 
to  the  spinal  column;  in  front  the  first  seven  join  the 
sternum  or  chest-bone,  and  these  are  called  the  true  ribs ; 
the  five  next  are  shorter,  and  are  attached  to  the  seventh 
rib  by  what  is  called  ^costal  cartilage;  and  the  two  last, 
being  unattached  in  front,  are  named  floating  ribs. 

To  the  sternum  is  attached  also  the  collar-bones  or 
clavicle,  which  extend  ,to  the  scapula  or  shoulder-blades 
and  to  the  humerus,  or  large  arm-bone. 


52 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


Then  we  have  the  pelvis,  which  contains  and  pro- 
tects in  its  hollowed  centre  all  the  soft  lower  portions 
of  the  body  which  we  commonly  speak  of  as  ‘ our 
interior.’ 

On  to  the  pelvis  the  large  thigh-bone  or  femur  is  at- 
tached. 

In  the  arms  we  have  the  large  bone,  the  humerus,  which 
constitutes  that  portion  of  the  arm  from  the  shoulder  to 
the  elbow. 

Medical  students  make  it  the  subject  of  a joke,  and  ask, 

‘ Why  is  it  named  the  humerus  ?’  ‘ Because  the  funny-bone 

is  situated  in  it.’ 

As  a matter  of  fact  we  have  no  funny-bone.  That  un- 
pleasant sensation  which  we  call  hitting  our  funny-bone,  is 
caused  by  contact  with  the  nerve  which  crosses  the  bone  at 
about  the  elbow. 

The  ulna  is  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  arm,  and  is  one 
of  the  two  bones  which  compose  the  forearm. 

The  elbow  is  at  one  extremity  of  it,  and  at  the  other  is 
the  little  round  end  we  call  the  wrist-bone,  which  we  find 
on  the  same  side  as  our  little  finger.  This  bone,  the  ulna, 
works  with  a hinge-like  movement  on  the  humerus. 

The  radius  is  an  extremely  interesting  bone.  It  works 
with  a rotating  movement  on  the  humerus,  and  is  joined 
to  one  of  the  small  bones  which  constitute  the  wrist  proper. 
On  a line  with  the  thumb,  when  the  arm  is  extended  with 
the  palm  upwards,  the  radius  will  be  found  to  be  parallel 
with  the  ulna ; but  when  the  palm  is  turned  downward,  the 
movement  causes  the  radius  to  cross  over  the  ulna. 

This  movement  you  can  watch  on  your  own  arm. 

There  are  eight  little  bones  which  form  the  wrist,  and 
these  are  called  the  bones  of  the  carpus. 

Then  come  the  five  metacarpal  bones,  which  form  the 
back  and  palm  of  the  hand. 

The  phalanges,  or  finger-bones,  are  five  in  number,, 


ANA  TO  MY, 


53 


and  they  are  sub-divided  into  three  portions,  excepting  the 
thumb,  which  contains  only  two. 

The  large  thigh  - bone  is  called  the  femur,  and  is 
inserted  at  its  upper  portion  into  the  ilium.  At  its  lower 
it  joins  only  the  larger  bone  of  the  leg,  which  is  called  the 
tibia,  and  where  the  shin-bone  is  situated,  and  these  two 
bones  are  protected  at  the  knee-joint  by  a small  bone  called 
the  patella. 

The  tibia,  starting  from  the  knee-joint,  is  the  inside 
bone  of  the  lower  leg,  and  on  its  inner  side  forms  the 
ankle. 

The  fibula  is  a much  smaller  bone  attached  to  the 
tibia,  running  very  nearly  its  whole  length. 

Both  these  bones  are  attached  to  the  small  bones  of 
the  foot,  of  which  there  are  seven,  the  tarsus  bones,  and 
from  these  again  start  the  five  phalanges  which  form  the 
rest  of  the  foot,  and  which  correspond  to  the  same  bones 
in  the  hand. 

The  big  toe  plays  the  part  of  the  thumb,  and  has  one 
bone  less  than  the  other  four. 

It  is  much  more  powerful  than  the  thumb  of  the  hand, 
as  is  also  the  phalange  of  the  little  toe. 

The  three  middle  ones  play  but  an  unimportant  part  in 
the  construction  of  the  foot,  and  in  course  of  time,  with 
the  development  of  the  two  outer  ones,  could  be  dispensed 
with  altogether. 

The  muscles  are  a much  more  complicated  study,  and 
cannot  be  learned  without  diagrams,  which  are  not  in  the 
purpose  of  this  book  to  give. 

I can  only  advise  you,  if  you  do  not  care  to  study  the 
subject  seriously,  to  learn  at  any  rate  the  muscles  of  the 
throat,  which  in  doing  portraits  will  be  of  immense  value 
to  you. 

A head  well  set  upon  the  shoulders  adds  much  to  its 
dignity  and  grace: 


54 


HINTS  TO  AMA  TENTS. 


/ 


At  the  South  Kensington  Museum  library  you  can  get 
any  book  on  anatomy  you  like  to  look  at.  For  home 
study  I should  recommend  Mr.  Sparkes’,  whiph  is  by  far 
the  simplest  and  most  artistic  I have  seen. 

From  lectures  I find  one  can  imbibe  a great  deal  of 
knowledge,  therefore  to  supplement  the  work  done  in  my 
school  of  art,  we  have  a course  of  twelve  lectures  given 
once  a-month  by  a doctor,  who  is  ready  to  explain  to  any 
pupil  any  portion  of  the  science  he  fails  to  grasp. 

Of  course,  if  you  wish  to  draw  whole-length  figures, 
drawing  from  the  life  or  undraped  model  is  imperative. 

You  will  never  thoroughly  understand  how  to  make  a 
figure  sit  or  stand  without  doing  so.  For  landscapes,  or 
portraits  of  heads  only,  it  is  not  so  essential,  neither  of 
them  ever  being  draped. 

Many  people  find  it  a very  difficult  thing  to  make  a 
figure  stand  upright,  or,  when  placing  it  in  a difficult  posi- 
tion, to  make  it  preserve  its  equilibrium. 

There  is  always  this  to  be  remembered,  that  the  central 
line  of  gravity  must  always  remain  in  the  centre  of  the 
body,  z.e.,  with  the  equal  parts  of  the  weight  distributed  on 
each  side  of  it. 

If  more  is  to  the  one  side  than  to  the  other  the  figure 
must  tumble  down. 

In  a figure  standing  straight  up,  the  central  line  of 
gravity  will  be  all  down  the  centre  of  the  body,  and  exactly 
between  the  two  ankle-bones. 

In  making  your  figure  stand  upon  one  leg,  the  line  of 
gravity  will  be  in  the  centre  of  the  leg  stood  upon. 

If  a man  carry  a weight  which  influences  one  side  of 
his  body  only,  he  has  to  force  the  opposite  side  over  the 
central  line  of  gravity,  in  order  to  equalise  the  weight  on 
each  side  of  the  line,  otherwise  the  undue  preponderance 
of  the  weight  that  he  carries  would  cause  him  to  topple 
over. 


ANATOMY, 


55 


This  is  best  exemplified  by  an  amusing  trick,  which 
consists  of  placing  your  shoulder  and  one  foot  close 
against  the  wall,  and  then  trying  whilst  in  that  position  to 
lift  up  your  other  foot. 

You  would  find  that  you  could  not  do  it,  because  you 
have  not  equalised  the  weight  on  each  side  of  your  centre 
of  gravity. 

In  representing  the  motion  of  walking  the  reverse  has 
to  be  studied,  in  order  not  to  let  your  figures  look  as  if  they 
were  standing  still,  for  motion  is  described  as  the  perpetual 
loss  and  gain  of  equilibrium. 

There  is  not  much  variation  from  the  perpendicular, 
however,  to  be  observed  in  the  slow  movements  of  a 
gentle  walker,  but  in  the  runner,  who  extends  his  legs  at 
wide  angles,  the  upper  part  of  his  body  is  thrown  well  for- 
ward to  maintain  as  much  as  possible  an  equal  amount 
of  weight  on  each  side  of  the  line  of  gravity. 

In  drawing  a figure  standing  on  one  foot,  you  will  be 
forced  to  curve  the  upper  part  of  the  body  in  order  to 
adjust  the  weight. 

The  shoulder  on  the  same  side  of  the  foot  that  bears 
the  body  will  be  found  to  be  always  lower  than  the  other 
side,  and  the  line  of  gravity  will  run  through  the  centre  of 
the  neck  and  the  centre  of  the  foot  which  bears  the  weight. 

In  studying  the  positions  of  figures,  it  is  always  well  to 
remember  that  a graceful  variety  in  corresponding  members 
is  always  more  pleasing  than  when  the  two  are  placed 
exactly  in  line. 

Each  action  of  one  member  which  places  it  out  of  line 
forces  the  others  to  be  equally  inexact. 

For  instance,  supposing  the  head  to  be  bent  on  one 
side  so  as  to  take  this  angle  the  shoulders 

naturally  take  the  angle  so  and  these  again 

force  the  lines  of  the  hips  to  be  in  the  exactly  opposite 
angle,  repeating,  indeed,  the  inclination  of  the  head. 


56 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


/ 


Whichever  leg  the  body  rests  upon,  the  hip  that  side 
will  be  the  highest  and  the  hip  and  knee  of  the  other  leg 
will  be  lower. 

Now  if  we  turn  the  figure  in  profile  and  study  the  line 
of  gravity,  we  find  that  it  starts  from  the  centre  of  the  head 
in  a line  with  where  the  ear  is  attached  to  the  skull,  passes 
through  the  centre  of  the  spine  at  the  neck  and  head  of 
the  upper  arm,  then  the  centre  of  the  head  of  the  thigh- 
bone, the  patella  or  knee-joint,  and  the  arch  of  the  foot. 

It  must  be  noticed  that  it  does  not  touch  the  end  of  the 
thigh-bones  and  lower  bones  of  the  leg,  but  passes  just  in 
front  of  them,  and  that  it  is  in  considerable  advance  of  the 
ankle-bone. 

The  natural  position  of  the  leg,  therefore,  from  the 
ankle  upward  is  a little  forward. 

The  line  of  the  toes  does  not  extend  beyond  the 
furthest  point  of  the  ribs. 

These  are  little  points  that  you  will  find  it  useful  to 
remember  when  you  wish  to  paint  subject  pictures,  and 
which  one  is  apt  to  forget  when  one  attempts  to  master 
the  whole  science  of  anatomy. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Perspective. 

Perspective  to  the  draughtsman  is  what  grammar  is  to  the 
writer,  both  necessary  adjuncts  to  production. 

I should  advise  you,  whenever  feasible,  to  attend 
lectures  on  perspective,  or  to  get  a master  to  give  you 
lessons,  as  practical  demonstration  will  teach  you  more  in 
ten  minutes  than  you  could  acquire  by  an  hour’s  reading. 
As  a rule,  by  the  time  you  are  able  to  paint  pictures,  you  will 
find  that  your  eye  has  been  sufficiently  trained  to  enable 
you  to  copy  what  you  see  without  the  aid  of  perspective, 
but  in  composing  pictures  a little  knowledge  is  absolutely 
necessary. 

You  would  often  find  it  difficult  to  express  your  thoughts 
clearly,  and  knowing  the  primary  rules  of  perspective  will 
help  you  immensely. 

When  you  have  learnt  your  perspective  by  book,  a very 
good  way  to  perfect  yourself  in  it  is  to  copy  accurately 
what  you  see  of  a room  through  a looking-glass. 

The  perspective  of  objects,  means  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  seen  by  our  eye. 

This  is  often,  in  apparent  opposition  to  what  the  thing 
seen  actually  is,  so  that  sometimes  we  must  forget  our 
knowledge  of  it  in  order  that  we  may  represent  the  object 
only  as  it  appears  to  us. 

This  is  our  western  idea  of  art.  The  Japanese  do  not 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


58 


'/ 


consider  themselves  bound  by  any  rules.  They  place 
their  personages  and  draw  their  buildings  to  suit  their 
design.  So  far  do  they  carry  out  their  consistency  in  this 
respect,  or  rather  their  inconsistency,  that  our  photographic 
lens  displeases  them.  They  are  busily  employed  in  invent- 
ing one  that  will  represent  objects  as  they  are,  and  not  as 
they  appear. 

Now  there  are  Uvo  kinds  of  perspective  we  must  notice ; 
that  of  line,  and  of  colour. 

The  former  can  be  taught  you,  but  the  latter,  which  is 
known  as  aerial  perspective,  can  only  be  acquired  by  obser- 
vation and  experience. 

Linear  perspective  teaches  you  to  draw  the  form  of  any 
object  correctly,  and  aerial  perspective  to  paint  the  proper 
distance  between  each  object. 

For  instance,  you  might  draw  the  objects  perfectly 
correctly  as  far  as  the  pure  outline  goes,  still,  if  you  did 
not  give,  as  well,  the  aerial  perspective,  your  objects  in  the 
background  would  touch  those  in  the  foreground,  and  you 
would  not  be  able  to  properly  detach  them. 

It  is  m.ost  important  that  you  should  understand  this 
principle  for  portrait  painting,  for  you  ought  to  make  us 
feel  that  your  head  is  completely  round — i.e.^  that  it  has  a 
back  to  it,  as  well  as  a face,  and  that  one  might,  were 'it 
possible,  get  into  the  canvas  and  walk  all  round  between 
the  head  and  the  background. 

When  you  hear  some  one  complaining  that  their  head 
will  insist  upon  sticking  to  the  background,  it  shows  that 
they  have  no  knowledge  of  aerial  perspective. 

If  you  give  the  tones  in  your  background  as  much  value 
as  those  in  your  head,  you  are  wrong,  because  you  have  not 
given  us  the  perspective  of  colour. 

You  must  paint  the  air  that  is  between  the  head  and 
the  background,  and  you  must  remember  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  very  air,  all  lines  and  colours  are  stronger 


PERSPECTIVE. 


59 


in  the  foreground,  and  as  they  recede  from  the  eye  are 
fainter. 

A child  who  has  no  experience  to  teach  him,  or  much 
reasoning  power  to  reflect,  imagines  that  everything  he  sees 
is  quite  close  to  him  ; within  his  reach,  in  fact. 

The  child’s  crying  for  the  moon  is  quite  natural.  He 
sees  what  he  imagines  to  be  a beautiful  silver  ball  within 
reach  of  his  little  hands ; naturally  he  would  like  to  have  it 
to  play  with,  and  no  doubt  in  his  baby  mind  he  thinks  his 
mother  very  hard-hearted  for  not  giving  it  to  him. 

If  he  had  only  come  into  the  world  armed  with  as  great 
a knowledge  of  perspective  as  is  his  knowledge  of  suction, 
he  would  spare  himself  many  disappointments. 

This  theory  of  the  child’s  want  of  knowledge  of  the  first 
principles  of  perspective  is  practically  demonstrated  in  the 
case  of  a man  blind  from  his  birth,  who,  undergoing  an 
operation  at  mature  age,  receives  his  sight. 

His  first  impressions  are,  that  he  can  touch  everything 
he  sees,  and  he  can  form  no  idea  of  how  many  steps  it  will 
take  him  to  get  to  any  object. 

His  power  of  vision,  you  see,  is  in  its  infancy  a little 
experience  teaches  him  quicker  than  all  the  books  that  were 
ever  written  on  the  subject. 

There  are  two  lines  used  in  perspective  that  we  must 
know  the  names  of,  viz.,  the  horizontal  and  the  vertical. 
The  horizontal,  as  its  name  indicates,  corresponds  to  the 
horizon,  the  line  that  divides  the  earth  from  the  sky. 

You  will  best  understand  it  when  you  face  the  ocean. 

The  line  dividing  the  sea  and  sky  is  the  horizon. 

Now  this  horizon  is  always  on  the  same  level  with  our 
eyes.  We  cannot  under  any  circumstances  get  above  or 
below  it. 

If  we  sit  down  upon  the  shore,  the  horizon  apparently 
sinks  down  with  us,  and  our  eye  travels  along  the  surface  of 
the  water,  which  takes  up  a comparatively  small  space 


6o 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


/, 


between  the  shore  and  horizon ; just  the  height  we  are 
sitting,  in  fact. 

If  we  climb  up  to  the  top  of  a very  high  cliff,  and  look 
towards  the  horizon,  it  has  apparently  mounted  with  us,  and 
we  look  down  upon  a vast  expanse  of  sea. 

Every  straight  line  and  curve  that  is  above  the  horizon 
comes  down  to  it,  provided  they  are  not  parallel  with  it, 
and  we  see  under  all  objects. 

We  see  above  all  objects  placed  under  the  horizon,  and 
their  straight  lines  and  curves  follow  the  same  rule. 

When  objects  are  on  a level  with  our  eye,  viz.,  on  the 
horizon  line,  all  their  curves  become  parallel  with  the 
horizon,  and  they  appear  perfectly  straight. 

You  can  test  this  for  yourself  by  holding  a penny  on  a 
level  with  your  eye,  at  about  the  distance  of  a yard,  and 
then  looking  at  it,  when  placed  above  or  below  the  level 
of  your  eye. 

The  vertical  line  is  one  at  right  angles  with  the  horizon, 
•so : — 


Vertical. 


Horizon. 


The  point  of  sight,  or  what  is  often  called  the  vanish- 
ing point,  is  the  spot  that  is  exactly  opposite  to  our 
eye. 

We  have  to  be  very  particular  as  to  where  we  intend  to 
place  this,  either  in  our  landscape  or  interior,  as  to  this 
point  all  the  lines  on  either  side  have  to  converge,  from 
either  above  or  below  the  horizon. 


PERSPECTIVE, 


6i 


It  must  come  exactly  on  the  horizon,  either  in  the 
exact  centre,  or  to  the  right  or  left  of  it, [according  to  the 
feeling  of  the  artist.  For  an  interior,  about  one-third  of 
the  height  from  the  base  of  the  picture,  is  a very  good 
position  to  place  the  horizontal  line. 

If  I tell  you  how  to  put  a square  in  perspective,  you  will 
be  able,  by  its  use,  to  draw  correctly  many  other  objects, 
such  as  [chairs,  tables,  &c. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  the  geometrical  plan,  giving  you 
the  square  in  all  its  proportions  as  its  really  exists,  such  as 
this  : — 


Then  the  perspective  plan  showing  us,  how  a square 
looks  to  the  eye,  as  seen  at  any  place  under  the  horizon,  or 
over  it. 

When  a square  is  seen  on  a level  with  one’s  eyes — on 
the  horizon,  in  fact — it  becomes  one  single  line. 

Placing  it  under  the  horizon  we  choose  our  point  of 
sight,  P,  to  which,  remember,  all  our  lines  must  converge. 


We  draw  the  lines  from  A to  B,  for  the  base  of  our 
square. 


62 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


/. 


We  then  draw  the  lines  from  A to  P,  and  from  B to  P, 
which  give  us  the  sides  of  our  square. 

To  get  at  the  exact  place  where  the  fourth  line,  or  line 
farthest  from  us  comes  requires  a different  process. 

We  make  use  of  points  of  distance,  which  are  points 
placed  outside  the  picture  on  a line  with  the  horizon. 

To  determine  where  to  put  these  points,  take  double 
the  distance  of  the  width  of  your  picture,  and  measure  it 
out  on  either  side,  starting  from  the  point  of  sight  on  the 
horizon. 

Say  that  your  picture  is  a block  of  paper  a foot  in  width, 
and  that  your  point  of  sight  is  in  the  centre. 

You  will  find  that  your  distance  points  are  placed  two 
feet  to  the  right,  and  two  feet  to  the  left  of  your  point  of 
sight,  making  the  whole  line  four  feet  in  length. 


This  is  an  easy  way  of  finding  the  distance  points. 

You  can  do  it  in  a more  correct  and  complicated 
manner,  by  using  a pair  of  compasses  and  studying  the 
accompanying  diagram.  The  square  represents  your  pic- 
ture. Draw  your  horizontal  line,  and  place  on  it  your 
point  of  sight.  Through  this  point  draw  a vertical  line, 
which  will  determine  the  centres  of  your  circles.  Now 
take  your  compasses  and  describe  No.  i circle,  by  placing 
one  of  the  points  of  the  compass  on  the  point  of  sight  and 
the  other  on  the  farthest  corner  of  your  square.  This 


PERSPECTIVE. 


63 


CIE- 

J 


/ 

64  ’ HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 

circle  represents  the  largest  extent  one  can  take  in  when 
one’s  eyes  are  fixed  upon  the  point  of  sight,  and  is  styled 
the  base  of  the  cone  of  rays  (see  page  76).  This  circle 
gives  us  the  width  for  making  our  circles  No.  2 and 
No.  3,  which  we  produce  from  their  respective  centres. 
Where  these  two  circles  cut  the  horizontal  line  we  place 
our  distance  points.  The  length  from  these  points  to  the 
point  of  sight  determines  the  size  of  circle  No.  4,  which, 
cutting  our  vertical  line,  gives  us  the  distance  the  spectator 
ought  to  stand  from  the  picture. 

You  will  see  that  the  distance  points  are  not  in  reality 
placed  at  as  great  a distance  from  the  point  of  sight  as 
I have  directed  you  to  do,  and  in  theory  this  of  course  is 
correct,  but  practically  the  further  off  the  distance  points 
are  placed,  the  pleasanter  and  less  abrupt  is  the  perspective 
of  objects  in  your  picture. 

In  composing  a picture,  it  is  better  to  allow  one’s  sub- 
ject to  influence  one  as  to  the  position  of  these  points. 

In  our  square,  we  will  consider  the  base  of  it,  the  width 
of  the  picture,  and  we  place  our  distance  points  accordingly. 

If  we  draw  a line  from  B to  the  left-hand  distance 
point,  and  from  A to  the  right-hand,  we  find  that  in  their 
progress  they  cut  the  first  two  upward  lines  we  drew. 

If  we  draw  a horizontal  line  between  these  two  points, 
which  we  have  marked  a and  we  get  the  line  we  are 
seeking,  viz.,  the  furthest  side  of  our  square. 

Where  the  last  two  lines  cross  each  other  will  be  the 
centre,  marked  O.  This  method  entails  your  having  a great 
deal  of  space  on  either  side  of  your  canvas,  supposing  your 
paper  or  canvas  be  of  a very  large  size,  and  this  some- 
times is  impossible  to  get. 

A similar  result  as  the  above  is  obtained  by  taking  one- 
fourth  of  your  distance  line,  which  you  will  find  comes 
exactly  at  the  edge  of  your  canvas,  and  then  drawing  a line 
from  that  to  the  fourth  portion  of  your  base  line  on  the  side 


PERSPECTIVE. 


65 


nearest  to  it.  You  see  it  intersects  in  exactly  the  same 
place,  thus : — 


You  cannot  always  place  the  ruler  on  your  canvas,  nor 
can  you  often  get  one  the  required  length,  so  you  can  make 
your  lines  by  means  of  a fine  string  or  strong  thread,  which 
you  can  attach  to  the  edge  of  your  canvas  by  a drawing- 
pin. 

You  will  find  it  perhaps  useful  to  know  how  to  put  a 
room  into  perspective.  Your  knowledge  of  the  square  will 
help  you  in  this. 

Now  I have  drawn  you  an  interior  of  a room,  which  I 
have  made  twenty-five  feet  in  width,  twenty  feet  in  height, 
and  thirty  feet  deep. 

For  you  to  do  it  easily  yourself,  take  your  inch  measure, 
call  each  eighth  of  an  inch  one  foot,  and  draw  a line  for  the 
base  of  your  room  representing  twenty-five  feet.  You  will 
find  that  it  will  be  just  three  inches  and  one-eighth. 

For  your  upright  line,  or  height  of  your  room,  make  it 
two  inches  and  a half. 

To  find  the  depth  of  the  room,  you  will  do  as  you  did 
with  the  square. 

First,  you  must  make  your  horizontal  line,  which  you 
know  will  be  at  the  level  of  your  eyes.  We  will  say  five 
feet  as  a convenient  height,  which  will  make  it  on  your 
plan  five-eighths  of  an  inch. 


F 


/ 


o 


PERSPECTIVE. 


6r 


Now  you  put  your  central  point  of  sight  where  you  like^ 
provided  it  be  on  the  horizon  line. 

In  this  instance  we  will  measure  off  one  inch  and  two- 
eighths  from  the  right  side  of  wall,  so  that  we  place  the 
point  of  sight  ten  feet  within  the  room,  nearest  the  right 
wall. 

Now  we  will  put  the  ceiling  and  the  floor  in,  otherwise 
we  shall  not  be  able  to  get  our  further  wall. 

We  draw  lines  from  the  four  corners,  A,  B,  C,  D,  to  the 
central  point. 

We  then  extend  the  horizontal  line  on  each  side,  and 
place  the  distance  points.  In  this  instance  I have  pur- 
posely placed  the  distance  points  nearer  to  the  point  of 
sight  or  vanishing  point.  You  are  thus  enabled  to  see 
more  of  the  surface  of  your  floor. 

Our  room  being  thirty  feet  deep,  we  have  to  get  the 
length  in  perspective. 

To  do  this,  we  extend  the  base  line  of  our  picture  to 
the  right,  and  we  measure  from  C thirty  feet,  or,  in  this 
instance,  three  inches  and  three-quarters  of  an  inch. 
This  will  bring  it  to  E. 

From  E to  the  left-hand  distance  point  draw  a line,  and 
where  this  cuts  the  line  C to  P at  /will  be  the  other  end  of 
the  room. 

From  the  point  /draw  a horizontal  line  to  the  opposite 
line  D to  P.  Then  your  inner  wall  ps  easily  made  by 
making  two  uprights,  until  they  touch  the  lines  A to  P 
and  B to  P,  and  then  making  a horizontal  line  across. 

Now  we  want  to  put  a door,  two  windows,  and  a fire- 
place in,  for  our  room  at  present  looks  more  like  the 
interior  of  a box. 

Too  many  lines  are  apt  to  confuse  you,  so  you  shall 
have  the  same  interior  in  No.  2,  with  only  the  lines  that 
are  necessary  to  show  you  how  to  put  in  your  door  and 
windows. 


SCALE  OF  FEET 


PERSPECTIVE, 


69 


Now  we  must  first  make  up  our  minds  as  to  what 
height  and  width  we  require  them. 

We  will  put  the  door  on  the  left-hand  side  and  the 
windows  on  the  right,  and  our  mantelpiece  in  the 
centre. 

We  will  begin  with  the  latter. 

Let  us  make  an  old-fashioned  fireplace,  seven  feet  high 
and  five  feet  wide. 

Find  the  centre  of  your  base  line,  and  take  it  up  to 
point  of  sight. 

This  will  give  you  the  centre  of  the  floor  of  the  opposite 
wall,  where  you  are  going  to  put  your  fireplace. 

Measure  off  two  feet  and  a half  on  either  side  of  your 
central  point  on  the  base  line.  Take  these  lines  up  to 
your  point  of  sight.  . ^ 

These  will  giyir^^u  your  five  feet-.across  for  the  width 
of  your  mantelpiece.  Carry  up  two  uprights  from  the 
floor  of  opposite  side  where  the  two  lines  cross  it. 
Measure  seven  feet  off  on  left-hand  edge  of  wall  and 
from  thence  draw  a line  to  the  point  of  sight. 

Where  this  line  cuts  your  upright  on  the  left-hand  side 
will  be  the  height  for  your  fireplace;' 

Now  for  the  door  on  your  left  hand. 

We  will  place  it  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  wall,  and 
make  it  nine  feet  in  height. 

We  measure  off  two  feet  more  on  our  left-hand  side, 
and  draw  a line  from  thence  to  our  point  of  sight.  This 
gives  us  our  height.  Now  we  will  make  it  six  feet  wide; 
our  room  being  thirty  feet  long,  we  shall  have  twelve  feet 
on  one  side  of  the  door  and  twelve  feet  on  the  other. 

Now  to  get  twelve  feet  within  the  left-hand  side  of  the 
wall,  we  measure  off  twelve  feet  on  the  base  line  of  room, 
starting  from  the  left-hand  corner.  From  that  point  we 
take  a line  to  the  distance  point  on  the  left,  and  where 
this  line  cuts  the  wall  will  be  one  side  of  the  door. 


70 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS. 


We  then  measure  six  feet  more  on  our  base  line,  and, 
proceeding  in  the  same  manner,  we  find  the  exact  width  of 
door.  Two  uprights  from  the  floor  to  the  top  of  door  will 
complete  it. 

Now  for  our  windows.  We  will  make  them  three  feet 
from  the  ground  and  nine  feet  high,  and  six  feet  within  the 
picture,  four  feet  wide  each,  and  a space  of  ten  feet  dividing 
them. 

To  do  this  we  act  in  precisely  the  same  way  as  we  did 
for  the  door,  only  utilising  the  right-hand  distance  point  in- 
stead of  the  left. 

We  measure  three  feet  off  right  wall,  and  from  thence 
draw  a line  to  point  bf  sight.  Measure  nine  feet  above 
that,  and  do  the  same.  This  gives  us  the  height  of  the 
windows. 

To  get  our  first  line  of  six  feet  within  the  room,  we 
measure  three-quarters  of  an  inch  on  our  base  line  from 
the  right-hand  corner  towards  the  left,  and  so  on  with 
the  other  measurements  required  of  four,  ten,  and 
four  feet,  bringing  them  all  to  our  right-hand  distance 
point. 

Now  we  will  put  a chandelier  in  the  centre  of  our  ceiling, 
and  it  shall  hang  down  eight  feet  deep  into  the  room. 

First  we  have  to  find  the  centre  of  the  room,  which  we 
do  by  drawing  two  diagonal  lines  from  each  corner,  and 
where  they  cross  we  shall  get  our  centre. 

We  next  find  the  centre  of  the  top  line  of  our  room 
(A,  B,  Interior  No.  i),  which  we  can  do  either  by  measure- 
ment or  by  ruling  a line  from  our  point  of  sight,  through 
the  centre  of  the  ceiling,  and  on  beyond  until  it  cuts 
A,  B. 

From  this  last  point  draw  a straight  line  downwards 
the  distance  of  eight  feet. 

This  will  be  eight  feet  on  the  outside  plane  of  your 
picture. 


PERSPECTIVE. 


71 


To  get  the  right  perspective  for  this  length  in  the  centre 
of  the  ceiling,  draw  a straight  line  from  the  extreme  end  of 
the  eight  feet  to  the  point  of  sight,  and  then  draw  another 
straight  line  down  from  the  centre  of  ceiling  to  this  line, 
and  where  they  touch  will  give  you  the  required  length  in 
its  proper  perspective. 

Now  that  you  have  your  room,  you  will  no  doubt,  want 
to  put  some  people  into  it. 

To  get  at  their  required  heights,  you  have  only  to 
measure  off  on  the  outside  plane  of  your  picture,  either  five 
feet  ten  inches,  or  six  feet,  according  to  the  size  of  your 
personages,  and  then,  from  wherever  you  place  these 
measurements  on  base  line,  draw  two  straight  lines  to 
your  point  of  sight,  as  we  previously  did  with  the  door. 

Avenues  of  trees  are  done  in  the  same  manner. 

A capital  illustration  of  the  rules  of  perspective  you  will 
find,  on  standing  on  a bridge  crossing  the  railway.  The 
rails  that  start  from  the  spot  where  you  are  standing  are 
actually  so  many  feet  apart.  As  you  look  along  them,  and 
they  come  up  to  the  level  of  your  eyes,  they  apparently 
touch  each  other  until  they  vanish  quite  out  of  sight.  This 
they  do  at  the  point  of  sight,  and  this  is  why  it  is  often 
called  the  vanishing-point,  or  point  where  the  perspective 
lines  of  objects  vanish  out  of  sight. 

As  I have  already  told  you  by  means  of  the  square,  you 
can  put  any  object  into  perspective,  such  as  a chair  (the  seat 
of  which  forms  a square),  a table,  &c.,  &c.  If  your  table 
or  other  object  is  round,  you  turn  it  into  a square  whilst 
drawing  it  in  perspective,  and  then  it  is  very  easy  to  round 
the  corners  off. 

This  that  we  have  been  doing  is  parallel  perspective; 
called  so  because  two  of  its  lines  are  parallel  with  the  line 
of  the  horizon.  It  is  quite  the  easiest  to  do. 

In  sketching  outdoor  buildings  or  interiors,  you  will 
often  require  to  put  objects  into  angular  perspective. 


distance  point 


72 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


I can  show  you  this  best 
by  putting  a diamond-shaped 
square  into  perspective  for 
you. 

You  will  notice  that  none 
of  its  four  lines  are  parallel 
with  the  horizon.  You  only 
make  use  of  the  point  of  sight 
to  find  the  centre  of  your  dia- 
mond. All  other  lines  are 
taken  on  to  your  distance 
points  on  either  side. 

Now  for  the  square,  chain 
or  table,  in  oblique  perspective. 

I will  suppose  that  the  size 
of  the  top  of  your  dining-room 
table  is  represented  on  our 
plan. 

I place  the  geometrical  plan 
of  our  table  under  the  line  of 
the  base  of  our  picture,  as  far 
away  from  it  as  we  wish  the 
table  to  be  within  our  picture, 
and  in  exactly  the  inverse  angle 
to  which  we  wish  it  to  be ; as 
if,  in  fact,  the  base  line  were 
a looking-glass  and  we  reflected 
the  table  in  it.  We  can  make 
our  table  any  size  we  wish,  and 
place  it  in  any  position. 

I will  name  the  four  corners 
A,  B,  C,  D. 

I draw  four  upright  lines 
from  each  corner  to  the  base 
line,  and  then  carry  them  along 


DiSTANC£  PO/NT  POP/ZOAfTAL  L/N£  PO/A/T  OP  S/GHT 


TABLE  IN  OBLIQUE  PERSPECTIVE 


74 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


to  the  point  of  sight.  To  make  it  clear,  I have  drawn 
each  line  with  a different  pattern. 

Now  we  must  use  our  compasses.  The  one  with  a point 
at  one  end  and  pencil  at  the  other  you  will  find  the  best. 

Take  the  measure  of  the  corner  of  table  marked  A to 
where  the  upright  intersects  the  base  line.  Place  the  point 
of  the  compass  on  the  base  line  at  A,  and  making  this  the 
stationary  one  describe  the  fourth  of  a circle  with  the 
pencil  end  from  the  corner  marked  A towards  the  right 
until  it  again  touches  the  base  line. 

From  this  take  a line  to  left-hand  distance  point. 

Where  this  intersects  the  A line  will  be  one  of  the 
corners  of  your  table. 

Do  the  same  with  B line,  and  you  get  the  further 
corner  of  table  in  perspective. 

Then  take  C in  a similar  way,  and  you  find  your  right- 
hand  upper  corner,  and  with  D you  get  your  lower  right- 
hand  corner.  Draw  lines  from  point  to  point  and  you 
have  the  top  of  your  table  in  oblique  perspective. 

Some  artists  in  painting  portraits  have  made  use  of  two 
points  of  sight,  one  for  their  sitter  and  another  for  their 
background ; but  this  practice  is  not  to  be  commended,  as 
it  gives  an  air  of  falseness  to  the  picture. 

In  the  composition  of  figures,  the  horizontal  line  is 
generally  placed  just  under  the  throat  at  the  top  of  the 
sternum,  or  chest  bone. 

Needless  to  say,  one  need  follow  no  fixed  rule  about 
where  this  line  is  placed,  as  long  as  one  puts  all  objects 
in  one’s  picture  under  the  influence  of  the  one  point  of 
sight,  wherever  its  position.  There  must  be  a certain 
harmony  in  one’s  pictures,  as  there  is  in  nature,  from 
whatever  position  one  looks  at  them,  and  as  you  are  bound 
to  place  your  point  of  sight  opposite  to  the  level  of  your 
eye,  you  will  generally  find  in  figure  composition  that  it 
is  always  in  the  same  place. 


PERSPECTIVE, 


75 


In  painting  a head,  however,  it  is  better  to  place  the 
horizontal  line  a little  lower  than  it  actually  is  in  nature,  as 
it  adds  to  the  dignity  and  apparent  height  of  the  sitter  if 
the  head  appear  to  be  above  that  of  the  painter. 

This  is  why  we  make  use  of  a platform,  where  we  can 
always  obtain  this  result  whether  our  model  is  standing  or 
sitting. 

For  a man,  this  is  a golden  rule — make  him  higher  than 
yourself,  look  up  to  him  ; for  a woman,  let  her  be  on  your 
level,  or  very  slightly  higher;  and  in  painting  a child’s 
IDortrait,  take  care,  to  let  the  child  look  up  to  you,  letting 
the  eyes  be  a very  little  below  your  point  of  sight. 

This  gives  the  idea  of  size,  which  otherwise,  in  only 
painting  a head,  would  be  difficult  to  suggest. 

In  composing  a picture,  make  a definite  sketch  on  a 
small  canvas,  and  to  this  you  can  apply  the  rules  of 
perspective. 

When  you  have  it  perspectively  correct,  you  can  draw 
horizontal  and  vertical  lines  on  your  sketch,  making  a net- 
work of  small  squares  with  either  black  or  white  chalk  or 
threads  of  cotton. 

Supposing  you  have  divided  its  length  into  ten  one-inch 
squares  and  its  width  into  six. 

Put  the  same  number  of  squares  on  to  your  larger 
canvas,  and  copy  on  to  it  the  sketch  of  your  picture. 

You  will  find  that  you  have  your  small  sketch  accurately 
and  easily  magnified  twice  or  any  number  of  sizes  you  wish. 

I have  already  mentioned  that  in  landscape  painting,  it 
is  a good  thing  to  cut  the  inner  portion  of  a visiting  card 
out,  leaving  an  edge  all  round  to  frame  the  black  space. 
This  defines  what  the  student  can  see  at  a glance  from 
one  point.  Many  are  distracted  when  they  sit  down  to 
make  a sketch,  at  seeing  too  much.  They  attempt  the 
impossible  task  of  painting  more  than  they  could  naturally 
see. 


76 


HINTS  TO  AMATEURS, 


Rays  of  vision  proceeding  from  the  eye,  take  the  form 
of  a cone — they  start  from  the  single  point  of  the  eye, 
and  spread  out  in  all  directions,  but  their  limit  is  circum- 
scribed always  to  the  size  of  the  circle,  where  the  invisible 
cone  is  cut  off  by  the  object  we  wish  to  paint. 

The  nearer  it  is  to  the  eye,  the  less  space  the  rays  of 
vision  take,  and  the  further  off  the  distance  is,  the  wider  the 
base  of  our  cone  becomes. 

It  must  be  thoroughly  understood,  that  if  we  put  on  our 
canvas  whatever  lies  beyond  the  circumference  of  this  cone, 
we  paint  more  than  we  can  see  at  one  given  moment,  and 
the  result  is  confusion. 


I am  afraid,  after  all,  I have  given  you  but  few  hints. 
But  then  there  is  no  royal  road  to  art.  There  is  only  the 
old-fashioned  one  of  hard  work. 

What  I chiefly  wished  to  do  in  writing  this  little 
book  was  to  encourage  you  in  the  pursuit  of  art,  and 
if  I have  given  any  of  you  a helping  hand,  I am  richly 
repaid. 


INDEX. 


Action,  49 
Aerial  perspective,  58 
Amateur,  ix.-xi. 

Angular  perspective,  72 
Ankle,  54 
Arm,  51 

Background,  5,  li,  27 
Black  and  white,  i,  4,  37 
Blotting  paper,  36,  37 
Bread,  2,  6,  18,  37 
Brushes,  4,  28-30,  33,  34 

Carpus,  52 
Caricature,  13,  14 
Charcoal,  i,  2,  6,  22 
Chalk,  2 

Chinese  white,  35 
Circle,  9,  62,  64 
Clavicle,  51 
Correction,  15,  16 
Colours,  23,  24,  35,  36 
Cone,  64,  76 
Composition,  64,  74,  75 
Compasses,  62 
Criticism,  16,  17 

Damp,  38 
Distance,  34 
Distance  points,  64 

Elbow,  51,  52 
Erasing,  33,  36 


Experience,  23 
Eye  judgment,  18 

Figure,  49 
Fibula,  53 
Fixing  pastels,  42 

Geometrical,  61 
Genius,  xi. 

General  effect,  15 
Greys,  41 

Hair,  i 
Hips,  55 
Horizon,  59,  60 
Horizontal,  60,  64 

Knee-joint,  53 

Landscape,  75 
Leg,  51 
Lighting,  7 
Line  of  gravity,  54 
Linear  perspective,  58 

Measurement,  19,  50,  51 
Memory,  13 
Metallic  pencil,  3 
Mirror,  17 
Models,  6 

National  Gallery,  4,  15,  47 
North  light,  7 
North-east,  8 


78 


INDEX. 


Shadows,  9,  10,  34 
Silver  point,  3 
Skeleton,  49 
Sketching,  45 
Skull,  51 

Sky  effects,  33,  34 
South  light,  8 
Spine,  51 
Sponging,  33 
Squares,  8,  64 
Stumping,  2 
Sternum,  51 
Sun,  34 

Thigh-bone,  53 
Tibia,  53 
Time  studies,  14 
Tone,  20,  21 

Ulna,  52 

Values,  12,  26 
Vanishing  point,  60,  67 
Velours  a sauce,  2 
Ventilation,  30 
Vertical,  59,  60,  75 
Visualisation,  14,  47 

Walking,  55 
Washes,  36,  37 
Wrist,  51 


Printed  by  Strangeways  & Sons,  Tower  Street,  Cambridge  Circus,  W.C. 


Oblique  perspective,  72,  73 
Observation,  13 
Old  masters,  15 
Outline,  4,  9,  41 
Out-of-door  sketching,  29 
Ox-gall,  34 

Palette,  23,  29 
Paper,  i,  6,  37-39,  41 
Pastel,  40 
Patella,  53 
Pelvis,  52 
Pen  and  ink,  3 
Pencil,  3 
Perspective,  57 
Perspective  plan,  61 
Plumb  line,  19 
Point  of  sight,  60,  62,  64 
Professional,  x. 

Proportion,  49 

Radius,  52 
Rays  of  light,  20 
Rays  of  vision,  76 
Red  chalk,  22 
Reflection,  20 
Ribs,  51 

Sandpaper,  37 
Sanguin,  2 
Scapula,  57 


